A quarter of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) non-executive directors of NHS trusts have seen or experienced discrimination in the course of their work, a report reveals.
While almost four out of five (79%) of these BAME non-executives said they challenged such behaviour when they encountered it, only half (50%) said that led to a change of policy or behaviour.
“The other half felt they had been ‘fobbed off’ or subjected to actively hostile behaviour for having spoken up,” says a report commissioned by the Seacole Group, which represents most of the BAME non-executive board members of NHS trusts in England.
It adds: “This level of discrimination is unacceptable anywhere and even more so in the boardrooms of NHS organisations. Too many Black, Asian and other ethnic NEDs (non-executive directors) are being subjected to it and left to deal with it on their own.”
BAME NEDs told Hunter Healthcare, which compiled the report, that they had come across Black executive colleagues being treated badly, board members’ conversations excluding them, and fellow board members making little effort to engage with them.
Cherron Inko-Tariah, the group’s vice-chair and a NED at the Homerton hospital trust in London, said: “Despite being at the most senior level of an organisation, some of our colleagues have experienced elements of discrimination, such as being ignored and not being treated in the same way as colleagues. It’s really disheartening to hear that this is still happening.”
The Seacole Group urged the NHS leadership to make it clear that discrimination would not be tolerated and said it should “take urgent action to eliminate it from its boardrooms”.
Only 11% of trust NEDS and 7% of chairs are BAME, while BAME people make up 14% of the English population and 22% of the NHS workforce, according to the report, which is based on a survey of 59 non-executives from ethnic minorities, interviews and a questionnaire.
More positively, the report found that BAME NEDs are “making an enormous contribution to the NHS across the country”, notably in their involvement in trusts’ audit, quality and finance committees and helping to instil more inclusive cultures in boardrooms and trusts.
Inko-Tariah said BAME NEDs were “a real asset”, helping to stop “groupthink” developing in boards and using their own background and lived experience to help ensure that trusts fully understand the health inequalities that Covid-19 had laid bare.
Dr Habib Naqvi, the director of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, said: “The unacceptable experiences of discrimination faced by these senior leaders must be addressed with policies that seek to tackle the root causes of this behaviour head-on. If the healthcare system is committed to tackling health inequalities then it must have a workforce and leadership that is representative of its diverse communities. This is not the case.”
NHS England said in April that the number of BAME staff who were senior managers at the 219 trusts almost doubled between 2020 and 2021, from 153 to 298. However, while the workforce was the most diverse it has ever been, BAME staff remained underrepresented in top jobs, it acknowledged.
