NHS England boss condemns racist, sexist and violent comments by Frank Hesters | Frank Hester

The head of the NHS has condemned racist, sexist and violent remarks by Frank Hester, the health technology entrepreneur and Tory donor.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, made clear her shock at Hesters' comments about former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott at a conference for senior health service executives.

In her weekly update to healthcare leaders, which she sent out on Monday, Pritchard said she shared the shock and disgust many people in the NHS had expressed after reading last week about Hesters' comments.

The Guardian revealed last week that at a meeting in 2019, Hester, whose company Phoenix Partnership (TPP) is a major supplier to the NHS, said that watching Abbott on TV made you want to hate all black women and that the deputy with long service should be shot. Hester later apologized for the comments but denied they were motivated by race or gender.

TPP has won more than 400 million contracts from the NHS and other government bodies since 2016. It also manages the software for more than 60 million patient records across the UK.

In her circular, after addressing other issues, Pritchard said: I want to end this note by addressing an issue that has shocked many of us over the past seven days.

I spoke to a number of colleagues, including at Wednesday's meeting of the NHS Assembly, who have told me of their concern and disgust at the racist, sexist and violent comments allegedly made by Frank Hester, the chief executive of the TPP .

I fully share these concerns. The alleged language and behavior reported falls far short of our NHS values. They should not be tolerated wherever they occur.

Pritchard made the comments after being pressured from within the NHS for much of last week, after the Guardian revealed Hesters' remarks, to condemn them. There is disappointment within the organization that she did not do it sooner.

Speaking on Saturday, before Pritchard gave her briefing, a director of NHS England said they and others were deeply concerned by her radio silence, which continued for almost six days after the prime minister said late on Tuesday past that Hesters comments were racist and wrong.

Some staff believe her leadership has betrayed the values ​​underlying its stated mission to improve inclusion and diversity by not calling Hester sooner and stronger.

In an illustration of the depth of feeling in NHS England's response to Hesters' views, Chris Parsons, deputy director of collaborative services, twice last week used his X account to express his dismay at its inaction.

On Monday 11 March, the day the story broke, he tweeted: Racist, misogynistic, hateful and utterly disgusting comments from a privileged, arrogant and stupid man who should have no place on the NHS and should not was never given an OBE shame on you.

And on March 14, after health tech professionals had expressed their disgust, Parsons tweeted again, this time criticizing NHS England's shameful lack of public comment.

He said: For the avoidance of doubt @NHSEngland and @NHSDigital this is what it looks like to take a stand of leadership of the system, your silence is shameful when you will publicly condemn Frank Hesters racist, misogynistic and hateful comments.

Pritchard denied she had been slow to act. Her regular weekly newsletter to NHS bosses on Monday was her first opportunity to respond to Hesters' appalling remarks, NHS England said.

An NHS spokesman said: We reject these claims, which are wrong and unfair. Since these appalling allegations emerged, NHS England has condemned them in numerous forums and Amanda Pritchard addressed the issue bluntly in her first weekly newsletter to staff since the allegations came to light.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said on Tuesday he had written to Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, to ask her to look at the contracts and say whether they were delivering what the NHS has charged them to do and whether they were stable. with NHS values.

He told LBC: I have to be careful, I think, if I go any further because there is every possibility if we win the general election, something like that will happen on my desk and I don't want to prejudge any future. decisions.

However, I think his behavior is simply appalling and what has really shocked me has been the extent to which key figures in government have initially sought to deny that it was racist and misogynistic.