Lack of BME leaders in the NHS a fault of the system, not individuals

The NHS should rethink its approach to tackling race equality if it wants more leaders from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds.

Initiatives to boost the number of BME staff in top jobs have been based on trying to change BME staff rather than changing organisations, delegates at the NHS Confederation conference in Liverpool have been told.

Wayne Farah, a non-executive director at NHS Newham Clinical Commissioning Group, told the audience of NHS leaders that this approach to race equality is based on the ‘deficit model', which aims to change individuals to solve racial inequality.

Speaking at a session on overcoming the hurdles in BME leadership, Mr Farah, a vice-chair and non-executive director for patient and public engagement, said: ‘It is predicated on this deficit model – that the reason we [BME staff] are not leaders in the NHS is because there is something wrong with us. 

‘The reason is because there is something wrong with the NHS. We have got to find a new model that holds the organisations to account.’

In April, NHS England introduced a Workforce Race Equality Standard, which means NHS organisations will now be judged on how well BME staff are treated compared with non-BME employees. 

The standard contains equality indicators, such as the likelihood of BME staff entering formal disciplinary processes, and performance on the standard will contribute to the Care Quality Commission’s rating of how well a trust is led.