The attack that traumatised me on duty – Kent nurse

A Black nurse, who wished to remain anonymous, has spoken out about the ‘constant racial abuse’ she experienced at a Kent hospital.

According to KentLive, the nurse recalled one incident at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford which left her traumatised after a visitor hurled racial slurs and attacked her from behind.

She told reporter Hedi Mehrez: “She came with a patient and she’s talking to me ‘Oh you Black b***** I hate you. My dad has been asking for his inhaler and you have been ignoring him.”

Following her interaction, the nurse said the situation escalated when the visitor’s daughter physically attacked her from behind. She added: “I just felt somebody slapping me on my back.”

She told KentLive: “She came with a patient and she’s talking to me ‘Oh you Black b***** I hate you. My dad has been asking for his inhaler and you have been ignoring him.

“So I came to her, and said to her ‘I’ve never looked after your dad but I can look to see and assist you’. I turned to my colleague and I asked, ‘is the medication prescribed for the patient? My colleague said: ‘yes, but he refused it’.

“So I turned to the visitor and I said to her, ‘let me have a look at the prescription on the computer, then I can help your dad’.”

Following her interaction, the nurse said the situation escalated when the visitor’s daughter physically attacked her from behind. She added: “I just felt somebody slapping me on my back.

“That was the visitor. So, of course, I felt attacked. I was very scared for my life at the moment. I turned around, and I swung my hand back and I hit her back. So at the time though, when I hit her back, she started shouting ‘Oh, so you really hit me back’.

“I said, ‘yes, you just came up and attacked me from behind. She started shouting at me, ‘you Black c***’. I don’t want to talk to you. I want to talk to a White or a blonde person.”