By Alicia Tariq
The Annual General Meeting reviewed four agendas on Thursday evening. The second agenda ‘My Scrubs, My Choice: Equality in Healthcare Dress Code’, focused on students in healthcare that are required to wear scrubs but follow religious and cultural beliefs and require certain parts of their body to be covered e.g. arms. Lots of students at Heath campus raised concerns over not having access to appropriate clothing that respects all student’s religious obligations and personal beliefs.
NHS Employers’ Uniform and Workplace Guidance states that dress codes must be justified, non-discriminatory and sensitive to religious and cultural expression. Therefore, because of NHS’s cooperation, students feel excluded from their schools for not allowing the same dress code that is in line with NHS guidance.
Two healthcare students discussed the motion, Lara Al Najjar, a fourth year medical student and Ayaat Ashi, a first year nursing student. They began by stating that students are obligated to “keeping modesty and having clothing to an appropriate standard” and that “Your uniform is a reminder that it’s your comfort”.
Under the Equality Act 2010, Cardiff University needs to ensure dress codes in healthcare do not disadvantage students due to their religious or personal beliefs. This motion is for religious and non-religious people that feel uncomfortable exposing themselves in the
academic environments they’re in.
They felt that the majority of students were “being exposed or put in an awkward position” when receiving inadequate uniform. They stated that the NHS Guidelines already provide industry standard clothing such as elbow length and disposable arm sleeves, but healthcare students don’t have access to this. “They (the university) promote inclusion values but make us compromise our own”.
Students are “choosing their degree over their own comfort”. They concluded that “My Scrubs, my choice is not just a slogan, it’s a reminder that we don’t get left behind”. Ilhan Mazhar, a first year medical student, was welcomed on stage and announced that “The current scrubs policy treats a whole group as an afterthought and makes people feel uncomfortable”. He stated that the NHS already have the solutions and that the university are behind, and that they need to implement appropriate scrubs in schools if it’s already offered by NHS employers nationally. He states that “we don’t need to hear anymore but to hear enough” from the university.
The motion was accepted, and the Students’ Union will now start to advocate for Cardiff University to provide appropriate scrubs for healthcare students. In the future, a possible framework will be introduced for students to request NHS- approved alternatives for modesty.
Photos by Mael Le Paih