Black History Month: Standing strong in our purpose, so you can stand firm in power and pride

The theme for this year’s Black History month is “Standing Firm in Power and Pride.” It celebrates leadership, cultural identity and resilience and reflects on the past to inspire the future. We know that reflecting on the past may sometimes be uncomfortable, but it is necessary for us to be able to grow and change, guided by the communities we serve. 

Inclusive and fair practices are at the heart of what we do. We stand with pride in our purpose to make sure that everyone’s voice is heard and valued.  At a time when divisions are being seen more widely, we stay focused on listening, being fair, and making things better for everyone in health and social care across Wales.  

This post will share how we are strengthening our approach to anti-racism, equity and inclusion across our organisation, including our engagement, led by the people and communities that we serve.  

 

Recruitment, Governance and Policy 

We are working to make our organisation more inclusive, for our existing staff and anyone looking to join our organisation. Our recruitment processes are under review to make sure they are fair. We know that some practices can cause barriers for marginalised groups including racially minoritised people. For us, this means looking at ways to make processes more transparent, like considering whether we offer interview questions in advance and being more proactive in our training offer around biases.  

Our teams have also been looking at where and how we advertise our roles to make sure we reach a more diverse range of candidates. We have recognised some of the barriers that our own systems may cause and are working on creating additional materials to make our recruitment more accessible. 

This work is further supported by our Integrated Impact Assessment process. Integrated Impact Assessments are one way we make sure our decision making is fair, they help us to look at the impacts of our work on different groups e.g., sex, gender, rurality, Welsh language and ethnicity and how our decisions might affect people who belong to more than one group. 

We recently met with Welsh Government to hear more about their work with Red Quadrant and how we can further embed anti-racism into our internal policies and practices. This includes making sure our messaging is inclusive across all our policies, not just the ones that focus on equity, diversity and inclusion.  

We have been doing a lot of work to improve how we capture data and the ways that we use it. We have redesigned our equality monitoring form and processes to help us better understand trends, gaps and how different parts of who people are might link together and affect them in unique ways. This should help us to make sure that no one is left out of the conversation around health and social care.  

Our staff have received upstander training to help embed our behavioural framework and we are exploring further anti-racism training offers designed by people with lived experiences.  

We are proud to be taking part in the Aspiring Board Programme, a 12-month leadership development programme to support and prepare people from minority ethnic backgrounds for independent board member roles within the NHS. Our board member, Bamidele Adenipekun is sharing her wealth of knowledge and experience with those participating in the programme. We are excited to share that as part of this programme, Llais have offered a placement on our Board. This will allow us to hear about lived realities and share learning. We are looking forward to seeing an improvement in representation at Board level across NHS organisations and recognise the value of diverse voices at all levels.  

 

Relationships & Partnerships  

As part of the Health and Social Care We Want project, we have been working with ethnic minority led organisations to engage in meaningful conversations with the people they support. We have supported this engagement with funding and resources because we recognise the strength of relationships built on trust and respect.  

We are now proudly part of the Social Care Wales Equity Diversity and Inclusion Expert Reference Group which brings together expertise from professionals in social care, those with lived experience and other specialists within the sector. We are excited to share insights with each other and to use our influence in broader conversations around inclusion in the social care space.  

 

Engagement  

Our all Wales Health and Social Care We Want project is ending soon. Over the last few months, we have been hearing from a range of voices across health and social care spaces, from those with lived experiences to doctors, social workers and care workers. We have been analysing our data in real time and have seen a good representation of racially minoritised people as part of this work.  

Our Llais locals and fora continue to capture a regional picture of people from ethnic minority backgrounds and their experiences of health and social care. For example, in Neath, Port Talbot and Swansea we heard from people about their maternity care experiences.  

We know there is more to do, and we are planning a future project that builds on this work to hear more from ethnic minority people and other underrepresented groups in Wales.  

 

What’s next? 

For the rest of October, we will be taking part in the Minority Ethnic Community Health Fair in Cardiff and the Creating an Anti-Racist Wales Conference, which help us to keep driving conversations around inclusion and to stand accountable.  

We will soon publish the findings of our social care review which will share key themes raised by minority ethnic service users and professionals. We will share how we look at opportunities to work together with health and social care boards and bodies to build stronger systems, better support and more informed policy.  

We are proud of the steps we are taking, supported by our values and the belief that everyone deserves dignity, recognition and fair access to health and social care services in Wales.  

Would you like to make sure you and your community’s voice are heard? Do you want to help decide the future of health and social care services in Wales?   

Read more about how you can become part of the change here.