Medicine needs to be an inclusive profession

Editor—The finding of indirect racial discrimination against the BMA highlights the need to do more to make medicine an inclusive profession.¹ I attended a conference on institutional racism in higher education at the University of Leeds' centre for ethnicity and racism studies in July, during which many issues about the accessibility and inclusiveness of higher education were raised. Some of these were highlighted the following day, when I attended my school's graduation ceremony.

The ceremony was held at Southwark Cathedral and continued a tradition and association between church, hospital, and university that goes back hundreds of years. On one hand, the magnificent building, evocative organ music, and procession of staff and students in their gowns gave the ceremony a certain meaning and significance. On the other hand, when I looked at the multicultural group of graduating doctors and their families, some of whom had come in national or religious dress, I wondered how comfortable and relevant it felt for them.

Such formal events send out messages about the values and culture of an organisation. It made me wonder how many taken for granted aspects of medical school life could seem alienating to those from different ethnic, religious, or class backgrounds. If medical schools are serious about widening access, such events need to be reviewed, as do many more subtle ways in which organisations send messages about what and who is acceptable. A good starting point, suggested by Beverley Bernard at the conference, is to tackle the issues that people in the organisation tell you are important—and give them the opportunity to tell you.