North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust is delighted to announce that it has been shortlisted for the NHS Workplace Race Equality Award at the 2020 HSJ Awards, recognising its outstanding contribution to advancing race inclusion in healthcare.
Combined Healthcare has been shortlisted against tough competition, with the HSJ receiving over 1,000 entries to its Awards this year. The Trust has been selected based on its ambition, visionary spirit and the demonstrable positive impact that it is having in improving the experiences of staff from a BAME background.
The judging panel is made up of a diverse range of highly influential and respected figures within the healthcare community including: Sir Bruce Keogh, Chair, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s FT, Mark Axcell, Chief Executive, Black Country Healthcare FT and Caroline Beardall, Director of Workforce and OD, NHS England and NHS Improvement – South East.
Combined’s submission was built around its race inclusion journey over the past one – two years. This includes the sustained focus of its Inclusion Council in leading projects around inclusive recruitment, inclusive development, addressing racist abuse and developing its culture of inclusion and the continued support and commitment of its Board members to building a truly based on truly outstanding diversity and inclusion.
Whilst Combined Healthcare has come a long way, it is conscious that ‘ending workplace race inequality is a marathon, not a sprint’ and will require its continued attention going forward.
Shajeda Ahmed, Executive Director of People, OD and Inclusion, comments “We are delighted to have been shortlisted for ‘Combined Race Forward’, recognising the collaborative efforts and dedication of our staff members to make genuine impact and progress in developing improved BAME inclusion through the Trust and beyond.
“We are committed to advancing diversity and inclusion and we won’t stop until we can demonstrate true equality of experience for all our ethnic minority staff. To be chosen among the other incredible nominees is a wonderful achievement. This nomination will be a tremendous boost to staff here at Combined and I am sure it will bolster our continued efforts to improve the experiences of staff with BAME ethnicity.
“We are delighted that we are now seeing significant improvement in BAME representation at every level of the Trust, and our BAME colleagues are reporting greater confidence in the Trust in providing equality of opportunity for career progression and promotion.”
Now in its 40th year, the HSJ Awards is the largest annual benchmarking and recognition programme for healthcare. Through a rigorous, fair and transparent judging process the awards produce a roll call of the best organisations, teams and people in the NHS and the wider health sector.
The full list of finalists for the 2020 HSJ Awards is available here
Winners will be selected ahead of the ceremony, which will take place virtually in March 2021.