Sikh patient's beard tied with gloves, UK nurses left him in urine: Report

Despite the man complaining about the discrimination in a note on his deathbed, the nurses were allowed to carry on working.

In a shocking incident of "institutional racism" in the UK, nurses tied a Sikh patient's beard with plastic gloves, leaving him in his own urine and offering him food that he could not eat, according to a report. Despite the man complaining about the discrimination in a note on his deathbed, the nurses were allowed to carry on working, The Independent reported quoting from a dossier leaked to it from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the UK’s nursing regulator. The report outlined multiple counts of alleged racism against nursing staff and patients.

The council has launched an investigation into the newspaper's revelations. (Representational)

The council has launched an investigation into the newspaper's revelations after a senior NMC whistleblower claimed that the regulator has failed to address “institutional racism” in its ranks for 15 years.

"Nurses accused of tying a Sikh patient’s beard with plastic gloves, leaving him in his own urine and offering him food he couldn’t eat for religious reasons were allowed to carry on working despite the man complaining about discrimination in a note on his deathbed," the report said.

“In the case of the Sikh patient, the case was initially closed by the NMC’s screening team. According to a source, the NMC staff members responsible for deciding whether to pursue an investigation failed to properly consider responses to the note, left by the patient and discovered by his family after his death. The note, written in Punjabi, claimed nurses had laughed at him, kept him hungry by only offering food which they knew he couldn’t eat and not responded to his call bell, causing him to wet himself and fall in his own urine,” it added.

No other details of the man or the hospital were given in the report.