Donna Kinnair on racism in the NHS: 'If you aren't white, your illness isn't taken as seriously'

The head of the Royal College of Nursing on why the health service is failing people of colour - both patients and its workforce

After university, I signed up for Marks & Spencer's management trainee scheme. When I was pregnant with my first child, I went to see a nurse. I said to her: I've always wanted to be a nurse, you know." She said: I don't see any reason why you can't be."

I started my training in 1983 at the Royal London hospital when my son was six months old. My sister had applied to do nursing at that same hospital a year before me - she was the first black nurse at the hospital. When she went for her interview, they tried to persuade her to train as a state-enrolled nurse, which is a lower grade than a registered general nurse.