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Patient banned after demanding ‘white doctor’ at hospital

Patient submitted formal complaint against Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh hospital for refusing request, and has since been excluded

Alex Matthews-King
Health Correspondent
Thursday 04 July 2019 19:00 BST
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Patient banned after demanding ‘white doctor’ at hospital

A patient who demanded to be seen by a "white doctor" at A&E and was turned away, then submitted a formal complaint to the hospital over their refusal.

The "appalling" incident was revealed by Andrew Foster, chief executive of Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust.

He added that the patients has now been "excluded" and said they are considering reporting the matter to the police.

"This was hugely upsetting for the staff involved - appalling," Mr Foster said.

When asked how the trust would respond to the incident, Mr Foster said: "We will exclude this individual."

"I am exploring whether the police will take a role in this too. I cannot believe the nerve of submitting a formal complaint against the hospital!"

NHS organisations can place exclusion orders to blacklist patients who are violent or abusive to staff and other patients.

This will not prevent them obtaining emergency treatment but may mean they have to attend another trust for routine care and security may turn them away.

The NHS staff survey revealed around 30 per cent of its 1.2million staff have been abused by patients or their families, but black and ethnic minority workers experience abuse it at a much higher rate.

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