Everyone in the NHS deserves to work in an environment that is safe, welcoming, and free from discrimination, however recent surveys have highlighted that this is often not the case. Alarmingly, it has been recognised that few psychiatrists report any forms of discrimination and of those who have, there is often dissatisfaction with the response received from their employer. Due to a paucity of data relating to the experiences of psychiatry trainees in the North West, we sought to understand their lived experience and to co-design proposals for future work that may improve the status quo.

All psychiatry trainees across the North West of England in 2022 and early 2023 have been invited to complete an electronic, core training or sub-specialty specific higher training survey. Basic demographic details were collected. Respondents were asked a range of questions around their experience of discrimination in the workplace and good practice observed in managing this. Subsequently, each group of higher sub-specialty trainees were invited to a two-hour reflective session held face-to-face or via an online platform. Two further reflective sessions were arranged in Liverpool and Manchester for core trainees. During reflective sessions, attendees were presented with vignettes of workplace discrimination, developed from the results of the initial survey. Session facilitators guided a discussion on the feelings evoked by each vignette, whether attendees wanted to discuss their lived experience of similar incidents and to consider ideas for what may be done to support a trainee in these situations. A post session questionnaire was circulated.

Over 100 individuals have completed the pre-session survey and attended a reflective session. Survey respondents were predominantly trainees who identified as Asian, Asian British, Black, Black British, Caribbean or African ethnicity, with a roughly 50:50 split between Male and Female.

Themes highlighted include:

That the vignettes used in the reflective sessions are representative of everyday workplace discrimination.

That training in microaggressions should be given to trainers, trainees and other clinical staff on a regular basis.

That the burden of managing discriminatory behaviour should be on the institution and not the trainee experiencing discrimination.

Many psychiatry trainees across the North West have lived experience of workplace discrimination and systems need to be implemented to improve trainees’ experience. Proposals for future improvements; such as the formation of a deanery wide reporting and management system for trainees who have faced workplace discrimination; are being co-developed to address current challenges.