NI health and social care leaders condemn racist violence and warn of potential impact on pressurised services
Members of the Northern Ireland Confederation for Health and Social Care (NICON) have joined together today to strongly condemn the shocking racist attacks that have taken place over the last few days.
Mark Taylor, NICON spokesperson, said: “As the representative body for health and social care (HSC) leaders in Northern Ireland, including chairs and chief executives, NICON wishes to express our shock at the racist attacks and intimidation that have taken place over the last few days.
“We highly value our ethnic minority communities who contribute much to our society. More specifically, we highly value our ethnic minority HSC staff. They are part of the very fabric of our health and care system – we are completely dependent on them.
“We spend a lot of time and money attracting skilled and compassionate staff from other parts of the world. Our members have been doing everything we can to support and care for colleagues, and we will redouble our efforts to ensure they feel safe to stay.
“We welcome the many other voices beyond health and social care who have also set out their support for those who feel threatened by these attacks. To the ringleaders of this violence, we want to highlight that any continuation of the attacks or intimidation will hurt the whole of our society.”
Professor Mark Taylor, NICON spokesperson, is available for interview.
Please direct any media enquiries to Robyn Scott, NICON Policy & Communications Manager, on 074 8530 3672 or robyn.scott@niconfedhss.org.
Notes to editors:
- The Northern Ireland Confederation for Health and Social Care (NICON) is the voice of the organisations working across Northern Ireland’s integrated Health and Social Care system (HSC). Part of the UK-wide NHS Confederation, it is the only membership body for all HSC organisations.
- To learn more about NICON, visit www.nhsconfed.org/nicon.
- NICON priorities for the future of health and social care are set out in ‘Back on Track: securing the health and wellbeing of our population’, which is available here: https://www.nhsconfed.org/publications/back-track.
About us
We are the membership organisation that brings together, supports and speaks for the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The members we represent employ 1.5 million staff, care for more than 1 million patients a day and control £150 billion of public expenditure. We promote collaboration and partnership working as the key to improving population health, delivering high-quality care and reducing health inequalities.
