Open Letter to Mr Frank Hester Founder and Chief Executive The Phoenix Partnership

Dear Mr Hester

We are writing to you on behalf of the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI), the professional body for community nursing.

We are sure you will be aware that many community nurses across the United Kingdom use your IT solutions to support the provision of care to people across our communities. We were appalled to hear of your racist and misogynistic remarks made against the Rt Hon Diane Abbott MP which included a threat of violence. Such language, racism and misogyny have no place in British society, but such abusive comments are even more inappropriate given your place as a major supplier of IT software to the NHS.

You may be aware that a growing proportion of the NHS workforce is from the global majority and that we increasingly rely on excellent internationally educated nurses to fill the nursing and medical workforce gaps. We are indebted to them all and we must ensure that racism in all its forms is driven out of the NHS and society.

My colleagues across the NHS deliver services to people from all backgrounds and provide high quality care irrespective of ethnicity, social standing or gender. Being associated with TPP as a software provider and sponsor of Rewired Digital Health events does little to inspire confidence that we are dismantling the structural and societal barriers which exist for so many members of our society.

We recognize that as the owner and founder of TPP, calling for your resignation is futile and given your company has been awarded more than £400m in contracts by the NHS, asking the NHS to have no further dealings with TPP is impractical. However, we do feel that you need to own your comments, and acknowledge that they are both racist and misogynistic.

The QNI therefore calls on you to issue a full and public apology to Diane Abbott, recognising the part you have played in perpetuating racism in society.

At the same time, we also ask you to consider how you will develop your learning about the impact of racism suffered every day by large numbers of NHS colleagues and our fellow citizens in the UK.