Posted on: 17 June 2022
Dear colleagues,
We are saddened to read the latest survey reports from NHS Confederation reflecting the experiences of colleagues from ethnic minority communities. This report highlighted that over half of ethnic minority NHS leaders consider quitting due to racism.
We know through our collective work on this important agenda that this is a reality that many of our colleagues have faced. It’s important that we recognise and support those for whom this data resurfaces trauma and provides you with the assurance that we are continually striving to address racism in West Yorkshire.
As a Partnership, we remain committed to being an anti-racist system and the Integrated Care Board we lead will be an anti-racist organisation. Together we must remain committed to consolidating our work on our Root out Racism movement and to amplify the lived experiences of colleagues who experience racism.
We also remain committed to our ambition to have a more diverse leadership that better reflects the broad range of talent in West Yorkshire, helping to ensure that the poor experiences in the workplace that are particularly high for colleagues from minority communities are a thing of the past.
We have made much progress on this aspiration with representation of the Race Equality Network in all forums of decision making with the Partnership, the launch of two cohorts of the award-winning West Yorkshire Fellowship, training, and development resources on Allyship, White Privilege and the Race Equality Network Podcast series ‘Can you hear me.’
We recently approved the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership People plan which prioritises the continued growth of a West Yorkshire talent pool through the Fellowship Programme to support our system ambition to increase the percentage of leaders from ethnic minority backgrounds and to support aspiring leaders into senior leadership or board level positions.
We are proud of the progress we have made on the recommendations from the Tackling Health Inequalities for Ethnic Minority Colleagues and Communities Review which we have driven forward since October 2020. We will continue to progress the review’s action plan which involves the development of independent panels to review all cases of discrimination in disciplinary and complaints cases.
Our commitment to tackling racism is absolute and unwavering. We have a strong working relationship with organisations including the NHS Race and Health Observatory, and the NHS England Workforce Race Equality Standard Team.
Through the West Yorkshire Race Equality Network, we have engaged with other lived experience networks, including the British Physicians of Indian Origin and the national APNA NHS South Asian Heritage Leaders Network. We will continue to maximise these relationships to discuss and collaborate on this important agenda.
In West Yorkshire we also see our migrants, refugees, and asylum seeker population as an asset to our cities, towns, and communities. Providing a safe and welcoming place of sanctuary for people and families should be seen as an opportunity not a threat.
Each of our five places (Bradford District and Craven; Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield District) have developed and achieved sanctuary status (city or valley). Our Partnership of Sanctuary aims to support local work and ensure West Yorkshire is a safe, welcoming county where refugees, migrants and asylum seekers can thrive and live healthy lives.
It was agreed at our Partnership Board on the 7 June that we will take positive action to embed concepts of welcome, safety and inclusion within our health and care sectors and commit to creating a safe and inclusive culture of welcome that benefits everybody, including anyone seeking sanctuary. We hope to have achieved the status by the end of June 2022. In doing so we would be one of the first integrated care system in the country.
We know that ultimately only sustained efforts and action can address racism and its consequences over the long-term. That is why we discuss these issues at every Partnership Board meeting of our integrated care system.
In the meantime, we would encourage all leaders to make an offer to colleagues impacted by recent events, providing support to all. In addition their local networks and organisations and the Partnership’s Race Equality Network and West Yorkshire Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub remain in place.
Finally, if you have suffered racism at work, please do raise this internally with senior leaders. We appreciate that this can be difficult and if you are not getting the support you need, you are very welcome to come directly to us to discuss your experiences.
Yours sincerely,
Cathy Elliott, Chair-Designate, NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board
Rob Webster CBE, CEO-Lead, West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, CEO-Designate for NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board
Fatima Khan-Shah, West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Associate Director and Convenor of the Partnership’s Race Equality Network