A HOSPITAL trust has experienced “institutional racism” for many years, a support network says.

The BME Network for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust spoke out following the publication of a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report which branded the trust inadequate.

The trust, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, has now been placed in special measures.

One of the concerns highlighted by inspectors were the comments they heard from staff from black and ethnic minority backgrounds who said bullying, harassment and discrimination were rife.

Inspectors also criticised the trust board for its lack of ownership to resolve the issues and said there was a disconnect between the board and staff.

In a statement, a spokesman for the network said: “The BME Network has for many years both privately and publicly raised concerns about the institutional racism that exists within the organisation.

“The CQC report highlights that staff from BME backgrounds felt there was a culture of fear and of doing the wrong thing.

In addition BME staff also described reporting concerns only to be threatened with disciplinary action.

“The CQC report also acknowledges that the trust board has been slow to address long standing cultural issues.”

The network is now calling on the regulator NHS Improvement to work in partnership with the group to bring about the improvements necessary to ensure the trust meets its statutory obligations concerning race equality.

A trust spokesman said: “We recognise we have much to do as a trust to tackle the longstanding issues we face towards creating a culture of equality and fairness for all our staff. Over the coming weeks and months we will be working hard to address all the issues identified in the CQC report and will be involving our staff, networks and unions to help us to shape the significant journey we must embark on together.”

Work being done includes a review of all of the trust’s people policies and practices in partnership with trade unions colleagues and equality experts, advertising the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian role to independently support staff and training and developing a team of work place mediators nominated by staff across the trust.

The board has been through several changes since the CQC inspection in April, with a new interim chief executive Gillian Fairfield starting the same month.

Antony Kildare is currently interim chairman, despite calls from the GMB for and other non-executive and executive directors who were members of the board before the inspection to step down.