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The St George’s flag is at the centre of a row again today after NHS leaders claimed they create ‘no-go zones’ for black and Asian staff who feel ‘intimidated’ by them when visiting patients in their homes.
Staff feel threatened by the presence of the flags across the country, including when they are visiting people in their own homes to give them treatment, according to several NHS trust chief executives and leaders.
A poll of senior managers found 45 per cent were extremely concerned about discrimination towards NHS staff from patients and the public, while a further 33 per cent were moderately concerned.
It comes amid a nationwide debate on whether the flags – which have been erected on thousands of lampposts and homes across the country in recent months – should be taken down due to their association with ‘far-right’ and anti-immigrant groups.
A trust leader, speaking anonymously, said there were issues around ‘how [NHS staff] work into the community’ and that nurses often enter people’s homes alone.
‘You are a nurse going into a home,’ he said. ‘You’re going in on your own, you’re locking the door behind you.
‘I have been into homes with people who have been convicted of sex offences, and we go in and provide care to them.’
They added: ‘We saw during the time when the [St George’s] flags went up – our staff, who are a large minority of black and Asian staff, feeling deliberately intimidated.
‘It felt like the flags were up creating no-go zones. That’s what it felt like to them.’
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