Disrupt racism course, USA News (Swindon, Wiltshire): An NHS trust has invited its white staff to sign up for a taxpayer-funded “disrupt racism” course. Staff at Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Swindon, Wiltshire, were sent a newsletter urging those who “live in the world as white people” to sign up for a course called From Allies to Disruptors.
The course was listed as one of several activities for NHS staff to mark Black History Month in October. The letter promoting the course asks staff if they are “ready to lead more inclusively”. It also hopes to facilitate the “understanding of your relationship to racism”. “By understanding more about racialised dynamics, the programme will help you become a more confident disruptor of racism,” it concludes.
The NHS trust said staff could apply for funding and time off to take the six-month course, which concludes in April 2027, but receiving funds was not guaranteed. The course, which costs £250 to attend, has now been slammed for stoking division. A tagline says it “invites you to disrupt injustice – not just around you, but within you”. Other activities available to NHS staff include a “race aware workshop” and a visit to a “Georgian people of colour exhibition” in Bath.
Dr Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, a director at Don’t Divide Us, a campaign group opposing racial identity politics, told The Telegraph it was “time to call enough on schemes like this”. She said: “It’s not only, or primarily, a question of wasted money and time; the embedded beliefs being promoted: that Britain is systemically and/or institutionally racist against black or brown ethnic minorities, and that white people need to be more effective ‘disruptors of racism’, actively sow grievance, division, entitlement and make solidarity more difficult.” She added that public institutions should not outsource their moral responsibility to entities acting in sectional interests.
A Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesman responded to the criticism: “We are committed to addressing racism, and we encourage all staff, regardless of their ethnicity or heritage, to engage in personal development and learning opportunities that support a more inclusive workplace.” The spokesman noted that staff participation is optional, funding requires approval through a board, and time away from work is not guaranteed.
