FOI-24-300 Medical school complaints
Date of response: 20 November 2024
We have now considered your request of 23 October 2024 for the following information:
Question 1: Please provide the following information relating to your institution’s medical school under the Freedom of Information Act. Information required Question 1. Please indicate whether your medical school collects data on complaints from your students about racism and racial harassment (yes or no)
Our response:
Yes
Question 2: Please state the number of complaints about racism or racial harassment your medical school has received from its student body in each of the following years:
2024-25
2023-24
2022-23
2021-22
2020-21
Our response:
2024-25 <5
2023-24 12
2022-23 6
2021-22 5
2020-21 <5
Regarding the information displayed above: students from the medical school can report complaints to the school through the Speaking Up Speaking Out process/or to the central University through its report and support system. Sometimes complainants may choose both methods to report their complaint. The information above is collated from records which the medical school and our report and support system hold, therefore there may be some duplication if a student has chosen both methods to report their complaint.
On this occasion, it is not possible to provide all the requested information. The Act contains several exemptions that allow public authorities to withhold certain information from release. We have applied the following exemption to part of your request.
| Exemption | Reason |
|---|---|
| S.40(2) personal information | Disclosure of some of the requested information would be contrary to the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation |
Disclosure of some of the requested information would be contrary to the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation
We can confirm that the University does hold this data. However, due to the small numbers involved, we consider these details are exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the FOI Act.
Due to the small numbers involved, it would be possible to identify a living individual(s) from this information and, therefore, we would consider it to be personal data. Disclosure of this personal data would contravene the first data protection principle of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), that being Principle (a) – lawfulness, fairness, and transparency. We consider that disclosure would constitute unfair processing of the data as any individual would reasonably expect for their data to remain confidential and not released to the public. The University is only permitted to disclose personal data if to do so would be fair, lawful, and transparent. Therefore, the requirements of this exemption are met, and we are unable to disclose this information.
To ensure that we do not inadvertently release personal data in this response or in combination with other publicly available data, we have replaced all values between 0 and 4 in relation to the number of individuals with the value ‘<5’.
Question 3: Please state whether your medical school has a published protocol for dealing with these complaints (yes or no). If yes, please supply a copy of this protocol.
Our response:
Yes. Please see accompanying document, our ref: FOI_24-300 Appendix A and the following web page: UEA Report and Support
Question 4: Please state whether the agreement between your medical school and its placement providers contains details about how complaints are handled (yes or no). Please provide a copy of these agreements.
Our response:
Yes
| Exemption | Reason |
|---|---|
| s.21(1) Information accessible by other means | Information can be obtained from the website provided |
s.21(1): Information accessible via other means
We have established some of the requested information is reasonably accessible by other means and so has been exempted under section 21(1) of the Act. The section 21 exemption allows us to exempt requested information we hold if that information is reasonably available to the requester by another route (whether through commercial publication or publicly-funded provision). The agreement between our medical school and its placement provider is already publicly available on the Health Education England webpage: Combined Version – Full NHS Education Contract April 2021 – March 2024.pdf. Signatures and names would be exempted under s.40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act and therefore we believe providing this link satisfies the request.
Question 5: Please state whether the ultimate responsibility for handling complaints from students that occur while they on placements rests with:
a) the placement provider, or
b) the medical school.
Our response:
If a student reports a complaint to the placement provider that occurs whilst they are on placement, the placement provider will initially handle appropriately, notify, and will work with the Norwich Medical School to resolve, where possible.
If a student reports a compliant to Norwich Medical School that occurs whilst they are on placement, the school will support the student and liaise closely with the placement provider to fully investigate.
Question 6: In 2020 the BMA published a racial harassment charter which set out actions for institutions to prevent and deal with racial harassment on campus and in medical work placements: https://www.bma.org.uk/media/2030/bma-med-school-charter-implementation.pdf. In relation to this charter:
a) Please state whether your institution's medical school has adopted this charter and made students aware of it
b) Please describe any actions taken by your institution's medical school to implement the charter.
Our response:
a) Yes, and students were made aware of this.
b) See actions below taken by Norwich Medical School to implement the charter:
Charter point: Supporting individuals to speak out
Actions taken to implement charter point:
Student of Colour Ambassadors
The School has two Student of Colour Ambassadors (SOCA) who are in paid roles, working on behalf of the students in the School promoting support and reporting processes and policies and acting as advocates for students. These roles enable other students of colour to have an explicit student point of contact to raise concerns about racial prejudice that they experienced or witnessed.
The Student of Colour Ambassadors are active members of the Vice Chancellor’s Task Force on Tackling Racial Harassment (VCTF) contributing to different work streams one focusing on placements.
Bystander Intervention Training (BIT)
Bystander Intervention Training (BIT) is mandatory timetabled teaching for Year 2 and Year 4 MBBS students.
Through an exploration of a series of scenarios and role play using film and a comprehensive handbook, this bespoke tutor-led training creates a safe environment where students and staff can explore the ideas at hand and learn how to intervene as an active bystander in situations of racial harassment, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia across a range of healthcare settings.
Race Equality awareness raising events
The School has run two co-created, co-led staff-student events (Speaking Up Speaking Out and Bridging the Gap) raising awareness of racism, and racial harassment where Senior Leadership (including the Vice Chancellor) were active participants in the panel discussions.
Charter point: Ensuring robust processes for reporting and handling complaints
Actions taken to implement charter point:
School level reporting processes
The School has developed its own reporting tool called “Speaking Up Speaking Out” for students to report prejudice such as racism and micro-aggression. Designed to capture anonymous and non-anonymous reporting. Embedded within Senior Advising Team.
There is also an email address advertised to all students at the start of every year through the Course Directors address, and during Bystander Intervention Training where students can email the EDI Lead directly on matters of race (and other EDI issues).
A mixed methods study was undertaken to understand barriers to reporting racial prejudice in campus and on placement. Recommendations from this study have informed work around transparency and reporting back to students.
Charter point: Mainstreaming equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) across the learning environment
Actions taken to implement point:
Governance and accountability
Norwich Medical School created a paid EDI Lead role as a substantive post in 2017 with a sole focus on the Medical School. In 2021 an Associate Dean for EDI was created in the Faculty. In 2024 two department EDI roles were created. The School has had an Athena Swan lead role in place for over a decade.
The EDI Lead Chairs two Committees with specific EDI focus:
The BiPOC/BAME Working Group with oversight over School anti-racist activity, including reporting processes, decolonising and diversifying curriculum, research projects and intervention design and development.
The Supporting Excellence, Equality and Satisfaction At Work Committee, Chaired by the Athena Swan Lead, has a staff-student collaborative approach, with an agenda to address equality and equity within the School for staff and students.
MED BAME Mentoring Programme
The Norwich Medical School BAME Mentoring scheme was uniquely created for BAME medical students and launched in September 2020 with MED SOCA as the Mentoring Scheme Co-ordinator. The scheme pairs first and second-year medical students with senior medical students from a BAME background to provide them with one-to-one academic support, as well as a safe space in which to discuss their experiences.
African & Caribbean Medical Society (ACMS)
This student-led society was created in 2020 with the aim of reducing the attainment gap in medicine of students of African & Caribbean descent. The society is led by medical students. The Society organise events and work with alumni to provide professional and academic support to current medical students.
African & Caribbean Medical Society “Elevate” Mentoring scheme
The scheme offers support to intercalating, 4th year and 5th year medical students of African & Caribbean descent. Each student is assigned a mentor (an alumni of African & Caribbean descent) with the aim of aiding the student with the transition from a medical student to a junior doctor.
MED International Medical Students Buddy Scheme
The scheme was designed by a group of MED students directly involved in MED EDI work to and create a supportive network for international students and expand inclusive platforms for socialising and networking within the medical student body.
MED Brave mentoring scheme
Scheme designed to support BAME applicants for Doctorate in Clinical Psychology to overcome barriers to success.
Charter point: Addressing racial harassment on work placements
Actions taken to implement charter point:
Zero tolerance policies on placement: The BAME Working Group have developed zero tolerance policies across all placement settings. Secondary care leads are members of the Schools BAME Working Group and are active in this work.
Racial Competence Training
Allyship training has been provided to all Senior Staff in the School (and the University Executive Team).
Personal Adviser Racial Competence Training
Racial competence training provided to Personal Advisers using case-based learning led by BAME alumni.
SpeaKING UP SPEAking Out (SUSO)
Reporting scheme launched in the school to provide an alternative reporting process that is held and managed by the School with accountability and reporting of actions through the Student Staff Liaison Committee and to Med Exec. SUSO is linked directly to the senior advisory team and reporter gets support and anonymity protected if required