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@TheBardOfAnlaby
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Dec 16
42% of all NHS medical staff come from a BAME background. That begs the question, why are they spending millions on more diversity officers?
A
first of its kind report looking into race equality among England’s doctors has found that the number from black and ethnic minority backgrounds working for the NHS is the highest on record.
New data published as part of the inaugural Medical Workforce Race Equality Standard (MWRES) commissioned by NHS Chief Executive, Simon Stevens shows that last year more than 53,000 doctors working in the NHS were from a black and minority ethnic (BME) background, up by more than 9,000, a rise of around one-fifth, since 2017.
The change confirms the ever-increasing diversity of NHS staff – with 42% of medical staff working in the NHS now from a BME background.
However despite this rise in ethnic minority medical staff, BME doctors currently remain underrepresented in senior positions, including at consultant grade roles and in academic positions.
While the number of BME medical directors increased to 20.3% and the proportion of clinical directors is now above one quarter, both figures would need to be at 42% to be representative, one of the reasons that the NHS Long Term Plan has called on every NHS trust to set its own target on senior BME representation by 2022, to reflect their overall workforce.
BME doctors reported lower levels of bullying or abuse from patients and the public than did white doctors, but higher levels than white doctors of abuse and discrimination from other staff.
NHS Chief Executive, Simon Stevens said: “The NHS’s medical workforce is one of the most diverse in the country, and increasingly so. So it’s all the more critical that the profession, local employers and the wider NHS nationally all now act on these important and wide ranging findings”.