Data Loaded, Action Pending: how NHS London’s Workforce Race Strategy will drive forth change.
I first joined the NHS in London three years ago as a Deputy Director of the bits that help to create organisation culture — Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Organisational Development and Learning and Development. Having held similar roles across various industries and sectors, I was delighted and amazed at the amount of data we had access to. Usually, my first 3 months joining a new organisation are spent trying to understand where the challenges are and mapping out areas for focus. In the NHS however, thanks to the amazing work of the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) team, the wealth of research and crucially, the lived experience of our staff, the evidence was clear that the urgent and immediate need to be addressed in the NHS in London was race inequality.
However, what I quickly learnt was that even where compelling data was presented, it just led to calls for more data, the need to dig further and understand why, who, when and what? Rather than driving progress, from my observations the relentless hunt for more data was serving as a distraction and even worse, an excuse for idleness. The numbers might have been moving but for people from racialised minorities in the NHS, it still felt the same.
That is why I am delighted to have been part of the amazing team who worked with Yvonne Coghill and John Brouder, the guardians of progress in addressing race equality, to deliver a Workforce Race Strategy for the NHS in London. The strategy incorporates data for London — sitting underneath this is a wealth of detail — which has been developed alongside the lived experiences of our diverse workforce.
The need for this work had long been acknowledged as urgent, since before the inception of the WRES, but it has never been more critical.
This year we have seen laid bare the tragic, real-world implications of race inequality in the lives and livelihoods lost and the disproportionate impact on people from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds. Within our NHS, we have heard and felt the painful stories of the colleagues we have lost due to COVID-19 and seen that they have been disproportionately more likely to be from BME backgrounds.
Over the last few months, I have worked harder than I ever have in my working life — on both the Workforce Race Strategy and also leading London as we worked to ensure that all our people had a risk assessment during the first wave of the pandemic. This figure now sits at 97% but this work is ongoing to ensure that as we potentially enter a second surge, the people who work to heal and keep London healthy are safe when they come into work.
It is in this context that the strategy will be released. Throughout the development of this strategy, we have engaged with all of the Chief Executives, Accountable Officers and senior leads in London, whilst keeping the lived experiences of colleagues, which were so generously shared, at the heart of this work. London’s leadership have all stated their commitment to this work, recognising the urgency, acknowledging the lived experiences raised and responding to the bold call for action.
My hope now is that we can accept that the data is there, the evidence is enough and that we move forward with the recommendations as our guide.
The NHS employs a quarter of a million people in London, with 44.9% being from BME backgrounds, and it directly and indirectly supports many, many more. By tackling racial inequality in an effective and evidence-based way, we will be able to make progress for everyone.
We are in this for the long haul, taking what is now conceptual into reality. As the Equality and Inclusion Lead for London, I am committed to working with people from all backgrounds — recognising that none of us are a single characteristic — yet, it is everyone’s responsibility to take this work forward to ensure that London feels different from now on.
Janine La Rosa is the Head of Equality and Inclusion for the NHS in London
