Equality Diversity and Inclusion

In August 2020, Suzanne Rastrick, the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer at NHSE/I, stated in her blog that the work done to recognise and improve the Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) diversity of our AHP workforce has frankly been insufficient, and that urgent action needs to be undertaken to address this.

AHPs make up the third-largest clinical workforce in health and care but have one of the lowest percentages of BAME workers, at 12.2 per cent, below the National UK population average of 13.9 per cent and significantly below the national NHS workforce average of 19.9 per cent. When considering BAME representation in bandings of 8a and above, this figure drops to well below 10 per cent, so there is a significant amount of work to do.

Within London, our local population is approximately 40 per cent from BAME backgrounds. Our AHP workforce in London is 23 per cent from BAME backgrounds, showing that it is not representative of our local population. Similar to national data, BAME representation at higher bandings is poor in London.

CapitalAHP is committed to creating a workforce that is ethnically diverse and inclusive. We are working on a number of collaborative projects with our local stakeholders; focussing on a broad range of areas, from; health inequalities within our local population; choosing an AHP career; student experience; and including workforce challenges, in order to create a more diverse and inclusive culture.

Professional specific BAME Networks

CSP BAME Network

• BAME network (csp.org.uk)
• Twitter @cspbame

BAME OT

• @BAMEOTUK
• Black, Asian & Minority Ethnicities Occupational Therapy Practitioners Students & Educators Network. Allies please join us here too. Tweets are personal views.

SLTs of Colour

• @OfSlts
• Inclusive network supporting Speech & Language Therapists in the UK. We post our SLT profiles on Instagram, come follow us. Views expressed are our own

SLTea Time

• Twitter@SLTeaTime Podcast opening up discussions around race, ethnicity & the lived experiences of #SLT/#SLT2B’s from under-represented and misunderstood communities

Cultural Health Club

@culturalhealth_

A team aiming to make being healthy equal for all | Follow us on Instagram:

culturalhealthclub.com

ACPT

@ACPTNetwork

African and Caribbean physiotherapy support network for students, qualifieds & assistants across in the UK | DM for any enquiries.