Being a victim of racial discrimination and micro-aggressions had a profound impact on me at the time: Robert’s story

For National Hate Crime Awareness Week, Nottinghamshire Healthcare will be promoting its 'No Excuse For Abuse' hate incidents/crimes campaign. As a Trust we take hate incidents and hate crimes very seriously. Any form of abuse, harassment or violence is not acceptable, and we need to do everything we can to address it when it happens. We are committed to ensuring that all our staff feel supported if they experience a hate incident or hate crime or feel able to report it if they see it happening.

We want to be really clear: We will not tolerate any form of abuse, harassment or violence against staff, visitors, carers and those who use or services, whether verbal, threatening or physical.

Remarks or behaviour based on someone’s gender, mental health, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, age, disability or gender identity will not be tolerated.

As part of the awareness week, we’re sharing Robert’s story who experienced racial discrimination and micro-aggressions in the 1990s which had a profound impact on him at the time.

Robert Mooken
Trust Head of Quality Surveillance

“I was born on the African island of Mauritius and came to England at a young age when my father received a scholarship to study nursing in the UK”, explains Robert.

“The transition coming to England was difficult for me; making new friends, going to a new school, learning a new language and yes, getting used to the cold climate”, explains Robert.

“Although I graduated in Business and Finance, I have always had the desire to put what I learned to support public services. I joined the NHS in the late 1990s and was able to use my skills and qualifications in project management to run a small team and later to manage both local and regional projects. I am currently heading a small team with the Trust’s Quality Department, however, the journey hasn’t straight forward for me.

“I joined the NHS on what was then on the old ‘F Grade’ equivalent and worked as a support manager for several years. Once gaining experience within the NHS I was keen to advance my career by moving into project management. In one specific year I applied for 6 project management roles within Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire but was unsuccessful. All my feedback suggested that I did not have the relevant work experience, I came second place, the person appointed scored slightly higher than you and/or words to that affect.

“people like you don’t get jobs like that, come on how many black people do you see in those roles… you do realise that the job is equivalent to a ‘G Grade’

“I spoke to a work colleague regarding this to be told that “people like you don’t get jobs like that, come on how many black people do you see in those roles… you do realise that the job is equivalent to a ‘G Grade’”. I was clearly shocked by his comments and because he was my senior, I felt uncomfortable to challenge him and was lost for words. This had a profound impact on me and made me think that every time someone looks at me, they see my colour as a negative rather than seeing me for what I can offer and do.

“However, I did have supervision with my sector manager at the time and told him in confidence of my conversation with my direct line manager but told him I didn’t want it taking any further. He was clearly frustrated with this but encouraged me not to give up and became a good mentor. A project role later came up within the Trust, which I applied for, got interviewed and was offered the post. The project I worked on was a national project which later led me to winning an award and open more opportunities for me.

“Being a victim of racial discriminatory behaviour and micro-aggressions has a significant psychological impact on the person even if it is perceived and has long lasting effects and can change the victims’ perceptions and ways of thinking. Thankfully for me now, I have learned how to speak up and challenge when I need to challenge and will not let poor, discriminative behaviour stop me from achieving.  

If you have seen or been a victim of hate incident or hate crime you can report incidents to your local police force by calling 101 or dialling 999 in an emergency.

You can read more about our 'No Excuse For Abuse' hate incidents/hate crimes campaign here: https://www.nottinghamshirehealthcare.nhs.uk/hate-incidents-crimes 

We also have a dedicated Hate Incidents/Hate Crimes page on the Trust's website where you can read some of our staff messages on why hate incidents/crime should not be tolerated.