Nurses call for apology over ‘malicious and degrading’ coverage
By News England, , ,

Hundreds of NHS nurses, predominantly Filipinos and their supporters, have demonstrated outside the Daily Mail headquarters to protest at the newspaper’s ‘malicious and degrading’ coverage of Filipino healthcare workers.

The nurses gathered to demand an apology over the newspapers repeated reference to race in articles relating to the recent Victoriano Chua murder conviction.

Chua was convicted of murdering two patients and poisoning 18 others by injected insulin into saline bags and ampoules while working on two wards at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport in June and July 2011.

In a strongly worded statement (see below) handed into the Daily Mail, the demonstrators say the action of one criminal should not be used to target everyone who happens to share the same nationality.

Peter Carter, RCN chief executive and general secretary, said: “The Chua case has been the subject of much media interest and comment.

“Nurses from the Philippines have been working in the NHS for many years and have contributed enormously to our health service,” he said.

“The RCN objects strongly to any media story, which would suggest that the actions of one disturbed individual should be preventing the NHS from recruiting any further Filipino nursing staff,” he added.

Statement handed to Daily Mail 

Position statement of organisers: Solidarity gathering supporting UK Filipino Health Workers

“Following the recent conviction and sentencing of nurse Victoriano Chua for murdering two 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 referred 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.”