The NHS has chosen 36 black people to be ‘the face’ of Trusts across London on an initiative to celebrate Black History Month.

Amongst them are the face of East London Foundation Trust (ELFT), radio and TV presenter Eddie Nestor, who was diagnosed in 2007 with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and recorded the process of his treatment on a blog, and Martin Griffiths, Trauma Surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust, recognised for his work with young victims of knife crime.

But on the path to ethnic equality, a lot is yet to be done. According to the latest Workforce Race Equality Standards (WRES) report, 44.9 per cent of NHS staff in London are from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups. Yet, these staff are given fewer senior positions and key roles within the NHS.

Overall, only 8.4 per cent of board members come from minority ethnic backgrounds, which is significantly lower than the total proportion of BAME workforce across all NHS Trusts and clinical commissioning groups(CCGs) in the UK (19. per cent), and only 12.5 per cent of BAME staff are working at Agenda for Change (AfC) from band 8a and onwards to very senior positions, including CEO.

That is where the notion of ‘glass ceiling’ starts, where fewer and fewer minority ethnic staff are appointed. An anonymous BAME NHS worker based in the borough told Newham Voices:

There is a sense that black members of staff are less capable or equipped and they are also more penalised for smaller mistakes than their white counterparts. Whilst some are empowered to take leadership roles, others are stagnated and underdeveloped, which shows what is seen as the colour of leadership or seniority.

NHS London is working on a ten-year strategy to tackle racial inequality. Their four key recommendations include: setting up a renewed, collaborative and person-centred learning approach; ensuring a board member of each Trust or CCG completes the

WRES Advisor Programme; promote London cultural transformation programmes and increase the representation of BAME staff amongst ‘Freedom to Speak Up’ Guardians.

The percentage of BAME board members in the NHS in London, although low, has been rising: from 12.4 per cent in 2016 to 17.1 per cent last year. Trusts and CCGs should embrace the London Workforce Race Equality Strategy but it is vital that they work on tailoring it to each Borough, Trust and hospital in particular.

Barts Health is one of five English NHS Trusts leading on delivery of the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) quality improvements.

A spokesperson said that 55.76 per cent of Barts’ staff are from BAME backgrounds. There are 32.5 per cent of BAME staff represented at bands 8-9 or in very senior management (VSM) roles.

He added: “As part of our inclusion strategy, shared with the Board in September 2019, we aimed to recruit an additional 87 BAME leaders across three years. In the first year, we have achieved 29 additional BAME staff in Bands 8a to VSM.

“A key component of our three-year ambition includes being positioned as a leading NHS trust for the delivery of the WRES standard, by reporting year on year improvements against all metrics.”

This work has informed some of Barts’ improvement actions, as reported in the annual WRES report 2019/20, such as:

Introduction of Inclusion Ambassadors on recruitment panels, with a pilot starting with nursing and midwifery now expanded to include senior administrative roles
Pause and Review’ (a process that requires managers to have a discussion with a senior member of the site leadership team before progressing formal disciplinary procedures) pre-disciplinary checklist
Continued inclusion activity with the leadership team and staff diversity network leads which saw over 100 of the top leaders and staff diversity network leads benefitting from sessions delivered by Dr Eden Charles from NHS London Leadership Academy
The Trust has invested in two additional WRES experts

The Barts inclusion strategy, updated in September this year, includes a commitment to develop inclusion through a three stranded approach that includes:

An Inclusion Centre that will drive the quality inclusive employment environment for all colleagues
Connecting with local communities
An Inclusion Observatory that will keep up to date on latest evidence and practice

East London Foundation Trust, provider of mental health and community services, is also one of the five leading Trusts working with WRES on quality improvements.

This article was originally published in the second print edition and has been updated on 6 November 2020.

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