London, Feb. 8 (PTI): Black nurses in Britain’s National Health Service are twice as likely as their white colleagues to be underpaid and far less likely to win promotion, a survey has indicated today.

The findings of the Royal College of Nursing’s survey, which questioned 10,000 nurses across the country, have been met with dismay by nursing leaders and the government.

Beverly Malone, RCN general secretary, called for an urgent review of the findings. “They show beyond doubt that racism exists across the NHS,” she said.

“This is often hidden from the black and ethnic minority nurses themselves, so that they are unaware they are being treated differently from their white colleagues.”

The survey, which will be published this week, found that half of all the ethnic minority nurses felt their grade was not appropriate to their level of work, compared with just 24 per cent of their white counterparts.

This is supported by another finding, which showed that 68 per cent of white nurses were successful in applying for promotion, compared with 43 per cent of their black and ethnic minority colleagues.

One of those who has suffered is Paulette Harris, a black nurse from Birmingham. She has twice found herself working at a higher grade to cover for colleagues, but faced a battle when she asked to be paid for the extra work.