Talking General Practice speaks to former BMA chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul about the extent of the problem of racism in the medical profession and what we can do to address this.

Dr Nagpaul is a London GP, a former chair of the BMA GP committee, and in 2017 he became the first person from an ethnic minority to chair the British Medical Association - a post he held until 2022.

While he was chair the BMA set up a national forum for racial and ethnic equality - the first time it had such a group. It also conducted a landmark survey in 2022 to establish the scale of the issue of racism across the medical profession and how it affects doctors’ wellbeing and their careers.

In this conversation Dr Nagpaul explains some of the key findings from that survey and what he believes the NHS and the medical profession need to do to tackle racism. He also talks about the impact racism has on doctors and how it affects patient care, how we can address differential attainment in medical exams and disparities in GMC referrals, as well as the importance of having more leaders in medicine from different ethnic groups.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower. It was produced by Czarina Deen.

Useful links

BMA FREE (forum for racial and ethnic equality)

BMA racism in medicine survey

BMA - delivering racial equality in medicine

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