NHS ‘head office’ will match diversity of health service

Simon Stevens has unveiled a new commitment to ensure that the health service’s ‘head office’ is representative of the wider workforce at all levels of seniority.

The NHS chief executive was speaking at a meeting of NHS England and NHS Improvement’s black and minority ethnic staff network, Stevens pledged actions to achieve a target of 19 per cent representation at every pay band within the joint organisation by 2025 – matching the makeup of the wider NHS.

This will be achieved by new support and guidance for recruiting managers, new recruitment processes, enhanced development programmes, and use of data to target specific improvements. If successful, it will mean almost 1,000 more staff from BME backgrounds will be in senior roles at the centre of the NHS by 2025.

BME currently staff make up 17 per cent of NHS England and NHS Improvement staff, up from 14 per cent in 2017. NHS England reports that 19 per cent or more staff in six out of 13 pay bands for permanent roles in the organisation are from a BME background, including 23 per cent of medical grade posts.

However, the target is not currently being met in the most senior pay bands (Bands 8a-d, 9 and ESM), with representation ranging from seven per cent amongst director-level roles to 14% for the NHS England and NHS Improvement Boards.

Stevens said: “Diversity in leadership brings benefits for everyone – both employees and patients. Greater innovation, access to a wider pool of talent, and it means a better place to work, with even greater impact. That’s why NHS England and NHS Improvement are practising what we preach, with a determined acceleration of our own work on leadership diversity.

“It’s also our ambition that this new and stretching goal not only benefits us here at NHS England and NHS Improvement, but also is matched by equivalent action by every other health service employer across England – a key plank of our plan to make the NHS the best place to work.”

Habib Naqvi, NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard deputy director, said: “The NHS is at its best when it reflects the diversity of the country at all levels. We have set ourselves the ambitious challenge of ensuring representation in our organisations is reflective of the overall BME workforce across the NHS. To be a model employer, we need to be an inclusive employer – embodying a diverse workforce at all levels and bringing the wealth of experience and perspective for delivering the best outcomes for all communities that we serve.”