A spokesperson for the trust overseeing North Cumbria’s hospitals raised issues of racial discrimination towards international nursing staff.

Amanda Dunkley, assistant director of people services at North Cumbria Integrated Care, spoke at a recent event by Carlisle Ambassadors, a business networking group, about how businesses can support recruitment into the NHS.

She asked everyone to speak up when they hear ‘inappropriate language or racism in our community’.

“Over the last few years, we are delighted to have recruited over 400 international nurses, alongside our existing grow-your-own approaches to appoint and train staff locally.

“We also rely on overseas medical staff to run our services.

“We value this diversity in our workforce and we need staff from all nationalities to run our services,” an NCIC spokesperson said.

But, they added it’s unacceptable ‘that our colleagues have experienced racism in the community and we are doing everything we can to stamp this out and support our staff to report it and tackle it’.

“But we need your help to make that happen.

“We need everyone to do the same and speak up when they hear it and when they see it.”

Ms Dunkley said: “Cumbria is a friendly place to live and work, let’s extend that welcome to everyone.”