Supporting Black History Month 2023

Black History Month provides an opportunity for leaders to declare that the NHS will not stand for racism going forward. Racism, inequality, injustice within the NHS is not acceptable.

Five actions for board members and senior leaders

• Engage with your BME staff networks and listen to the challenges.
• Implement and demonstrate a zero-tolerance policy on racism and bullying.
• Encourage more BME staff to become Freedom to Speak Up guardians.
• Look for disparities within the career development of your staff and work to close gaps through active career management policies.
• Ensure the diversity of your board reflects the diversity of your staff and service users.

The evidence

• The Workforce Race Equality Standard 2022 report indicated that there is an additional 27,500 BME staff compared to the previous year. Whilst this is positive, the survey also indicated that the percentage of BME staff experiencing harassment, bullying and abuse from patients, relatives and the public had increased and only 44.4 per cent of BME NHS staff believe their trust provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion. 
• The NHS England Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Improvement Plan seeks to tackle these issues with high impact actions two and six:
  • High impact two requires NHS organisations to embed fair and inclusive recruitment processes and talent management strategies that target under-representation and lack of diversity.
  • High impact action six requires organisations to create an environment that eliminates the conditions in which bullying, discrimination, harassment and physical violence at work occur. To do this, organisations will be required to review data by protected characteristic, including BME and gender, and set reduction targets by March 2024 and implement a plan to improve the staff experience of these groups. 
• The combatting racial discrimination against nurses, midwives and nursing associates resource, published by NHS England, NHS Confederation and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, provides advice on the action you can take if you witness or experience racism. It also supports those in leadership roles to be inclusive leaders.

NHS Race and Health Observatory

The NHS Race and Health Observatory (RHO), which is hosted by the NHS Confederation and supported by NHS England and NHS Improvement, has been set up to investigate the impact of race and ethnicity on people’s health. It works to identify and tackle ethnic inequalities in health and care by facilitating research, making health policy recommendations and enabling long-term transformational change. 

Our BME Leadership Network is a member-led network dedicated to establishing a truly diverse NHS leadership by strengthening the voice of black and minority ethnic communities. It aims to bring about sustainable change, so the NHS always delivers high quality universal care to all communities, by supporting members to overcome strategic and operational barriers to delivering equality.

In response to feedback from its members, the network has: 

• Launched a new Network of Network Leaders, with nearly 90 chairs of NHS staff BME/BAME networks signed up.
• Launched a Leadership Mentoring Programme following a successful pilot. 
• Held a conference ‘Courage in the face of discomfort’ which provided a supportive space for BME leaders and allies to have a full and frank conversation on the topic of antiracist leadership.

Coming up:

• A leadership development masterclass, ‘Equity by design’, designed and delivered exclusively for the network’s members. 
• A publication highlighting existing good anti-racist leadership practice and examining the evidence base that supports anti-racism as a service improvement tool in the NHS. 

The BME Leadership Network has nearly 1,000 members. We welcome NHS BME leaders as members and non-BME leaders as supporters. Visit BME Leadership Network for further information and to join.

The Health and Care Women Leaders Network is a free network open to all women working across health and care.  

The network aims to be a strong and influential voice – advocating, championing and supporting all women working across health and care. We focus on women’s health; women’s safety; flexible working; reducing the gender pay gap; empowering women to senior and board-level positions within the health and care sector; and supporting members with their personal and professional development.  
 
There are over 2,500 members, from a range of roles, grades and organisations, including NHS trusts, the ambulance sector and primary care.  
 
We connect through events, masterclasses, tweet chats and campaigns, and share learning through podcasts, blogs, videos and key reports. Find out more about our upcoming annual conference.   

We also run a vibrant Health and Care Network of Women’s Networks, open to chairs and leads of women’s networks from a range of organisations.   

Join us to celebrate our skills and talents, connect with colleagues and challenge gender stereotypes in the workplace.