Responding to the letter, Royal College of Nursing Chief Nurse, Professor Nicola Ranger, said:
“The Health Secretary is playing politics and trying to create a false division - frontline staff know the importance of diversity in leadership, even if this government is shunning it in a culture war.
“Just earlier today, the care regulator warned the Health Secretary of damaging and stark inequalities being experienced by patients.
“The discrimination faced by staff and patients alike is systemic, it perpetuates poor health outcomes for patients and impacts the wellbeing of staff, including pushing them out of the health service. This government and the next has to turn that around.
“Equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is critical to improving the culture of the NHS and delivering the best outcomes for all our patients.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
According to the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard, Black and minority ethnic (BME) staff make up almost a quarter of the workforce overall (24.2% or 383,706 staff) – an increase of 27,500 people since 2021 (22.4% of staff). However, BME staff make up only 10.3% of very senior managers.
Today’s CQC’s State of Care report shows staff from ethnic minority groups are still under-represented at the top of the NHS. Although they represent nearly a quarter of the workforce, they make up just 1 in 10 of very senior positions.
