"Filipino nurses call for apology"

See my previous post here and this report was in the UNISON national efocus newsletter today.

"Demanding an apology

Filipino nurses - including many UNISON members - protested outside the offices of the Daily Mail at the weekend to demand an apology over its Why are the NHS still hiring Filipino nurses? article in the wake of the Victoriano Chua murder conviction.

He was convicted of murdering two patients and poisoning 18 others, and the demonstration sent "deepest condolences and prayers to the families of the victims."

But the 250-strong crowd was equally clear that the action of one criminal should not be used to target everyone who happens to share the same nationality.

Filipino nurses are highly trained and their employment helps the UK overcome a shortage of 20,000 nurses.

UNSION estimates that the NHS saves £300m a year in agency nursing fees by directly employing Filipino nurses.

The union's London nursing officer, Michael Walker, said: "We condemn poor care wherever it is to be found, regardless of the ethnic origins of the nurse concerned, and we support the highest standards of monitoring and validation of skills.

"Evil people don't just exist amongst people of a different country to our own.

"Nurse Beverley Allitt and Dr Harold Shipman proved that evil people are to be found among all groups and all professions."

And he added: "Filipino nurses have a great reputation among their colleagues for their quality of care and dedication, and to demonise all Filipino nurses for the actions of one evil man is unfair and unacceptable.

"We would urge the Daily Mail to print an article addressing the important role overseas nurses play in the UK over the decades play in UK in both the NHS and private nursing home sector."

UNISON in healthcare

Filipino Nurses Protest outside the "racist" Daily Mail

Over 250 Filipino NHS nurses protested today outside the Headquarters of the right wing tabloid newspaper, The Daily Mail. They were demanding an apology from the Mail for racially stereotyping all Filipino nurses as potential "murderers", following the conviction of Philippine born Victorino Chua.

It is pretty clear that Victorino Chua is a duplicitous psychopath. However, so was the serial child killer nurse, Beverley Allitt and the mass murderer, Doctor Harold Shipman. I don't recall any calls at the time they were convicted to ban all english born medical professionals. If there is fraud in any medical recruitment this needs to be dealt with but don't tar everyone with the same brush.

Filipino nurses due to their caring and medical skills are in great demand all over the world. In the UK we are short of 20,000 nurses. UNISON estimates by directly employing Filipino nurses saves the NHS £300 million per year in agency nursing fees.

I suspect that nearly all of us have been treated (gratefully) at a hospital by a Filipino nurse at one time or another. I know I have. To slur all of them with the actions of one is simply a disgrace and if the Daily Mail had any real journalistic values - it should apologise.

UPDATE:
This is the statement handed in to the Daily Mail yesterday by protesters.

"Solidarity gathering supporting UK Filipino Health Workers

Following the recent conviction and sentencing of Nurse Victoriano Chua for murdering 2 patients and poisoning 18 others, the Daily Mail published several references to him being Filipino.

We believed that the nationality of the perpetrator of these wicked crimes should be irrelevant. We would accept a reference to Chua being of Filipino ethnicity within the body of the story, however the Daily Mail refereed to Chua as a ' Filipino serial killer' in the title of the news article is uncalled for.

The other headline story which is causing offence and indeed difficulties for Filipino nurses is 'Why are the NHS still hiring Filipino nurses?'

We believe that one person’s mistake doesn’t reflect everyone.

We consider the article by Daily Mail questioning the credibility of Filipino Nurses, including all working Filipinos in the UK, malicious and degrading. Filipino nurses have undergone four years of tedious study, community and clinical based experiences and need to pass a gruelling board examination before they can be called Registered Nurse.

What happened was a tragedy and safety measures have to be implemented to stop it from happening again however, scaremongering and targeting a specific group of people is not helping.

The Daily Mail should be shamed of its biased, partial reporting that is inciting racial hatred which we believe is a crime in the United Kingdom.

These are the reasons for our protest, we demand an apology and for the Daily Mail to highlight the outstanding contribution Filipino health care workers make to the United Kingdom.

Finally, on behalf of the organising committee, in one with the overwhelming majority of Filipinos throughout the United Kingdom and indeed the world, we would like to say how truly sorry we are about the shocking crimes committed by Chua and we send our deepest condolences and prayers to the families of the victims.

Organisers

Malcolm Conlan

Araial Ilustre

Ric Patriarca

Tara Tiyagarajan

Vannz Bio

Glenda Salazar Taylor

Phoebe Dimacali

Rommel C. Abellar

SIGNED

Saturday 30th May 2015"

UNISON Filipino Nurses on Tolpuddle Martyrs Procession 2014

Photo collage is from this years' procession and festival at  Tolpuddle, Dorset.

UNISON Filipino members lead their section of the march and show respect outside one of the martyrs homes.

This festival is held each July to commentate the birth of trade unionism in this country and the sacrifice made by 6 farm workers who were imprisoned and transported to Australia for daring to form a trade union.

Hat tip @LondonNurse2014  ·