Tackle diversity to encourage more people into nursing and other healthcare roles – Birmingham and Solihull NHS chief

The chief executive of Birmingham and Solihull’s Mental Health NHS Trust has called on health leaders to address diversity issues to get more people from ethnic minority backgrounds to consider a career in nursing

Questioned on Newcross Healthcare’s Voices of Care podcast about the decline in the number of people entering the nursing profession last year, Roisin Fallon-Williams says the problem can be partly attributed to a lack of non-white people in leadership roles.

“It's really important that people see people in those kind of roles that look and sound like them. That’s where we're not hitting the mark. In Birmingham, over 40% of our population who we want to encourage to work in health and care come from a non-white background. And the majority of us in leadership roles are white. So, what they don't see is someone that looks or sounds like them to aspire to. We need to tackle that to enable the leadership.”

Ms Fallon-Williams, who is a Registered Learning Disability Nurse and spent much of early career in clinical roles, says a lack of inclusivity has also impacted the recruitment of nurses from overseas.

“In order to have the right culture for people to come internationally, we have to have a culture of welcoming people of diversity into our organization. And certainly, what we experience is that isn't always the case.

“So, alongside our anti-racist, anti-discriminatory campaign we've launched something called Enough is Enough, which is about an acknowledgment that these things are happening in our organization. For many people, using a formal process, a disciplinary process is daunting. So, we're very clear that if you inform us of the fact that you felt you've been discriminated against or bullied or harassed in any way, that we will take forward a process that doesn't have to involve you. We will listen and we will follow up on what it is that you've told us.”

Separately, recent research conducted by YouGov for Newcross Healthcare, a leading provider of carers and nurses, found that 81% of care workers in Birmingham and the West Midlands believed that a robust and well-funded care sector would relieve pressure on the NHS by reducing the number of admissions to hospitals and A&E.

More than half (54%) admitted they were more likely to leave the care sector in the next 12 months due to the cost-of-living crisis.

Hosted by healthcare expert Suhail Mirza, the podcast episode featuring Roisin Fallon-Williams is available now alongside previous episodes in the series on Newcross Healthcare website https://www.newcrosshealthcare.com/voicesofcare as well as onYouTube, Spotify, Apple and a range of other podcast platforms.

You can see the full podcast here: https://youtu.be/MYPUR61f81s