A nurse from the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMB) has won a Royal College of Nursing (RCN) award to mark their outstanding contribution to the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) agenda at the College’s annual regional Black History Month conference.
Rewarding excellence in enhancing the experience of BAME service users and staff across the health and social care sectors, the awards recognise a wide range of initiatives being undertaken across the North West.
Naomi Fisher, Clinical Onboarding Team Lead Nurse for UHMB, has been an essential part of the process of welcoming and settling new internationally educated nurses into the Trust, ensuring they are treated equitably and smoothing their transition to a new country.
With Naomi’s hard work, the Trust achieved the Pastoral Care Award for its exemplary care of IENs. Her engagement in the Integrated Care Board’s roll out of anti-racism work has been heavily instrumental in ensuring her Trust participates in the Career Equity Programme. This programme is to give world majority nursing and midwifery staff the opportunity to have a six-month seconded role in a senior banding with support and sponsorship from more senior members of the world majority in the NHS in the North West.
Congratulating the award winners, Estephanie Dunn, Regional Director of RCN North West, said:
“Our Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic nursing community play a vital role in caring for people and their families across the region and these awards celebrate the unique contribution that they make. We are proud to honour their achievements alongside those who work to address inequalities that this demographic contends with on a daily basis.
“No one, no matter their ethnicity or place of birth, should be denied the same rights and opportunities afforded to others and there are few places where that disparity is more apparent than in the health and care sector. Despite progress made by employers to address race inequality, discrimination in the health and care sector is systemic - and it’s clear it still has a long way to go in overcoming the prejudices that both patients and staff face and to achieve greater equality.
“However, hearing how valued our award winners are in their organisations gives me hope that one day having to fight inequality within the health and care sector will be a thing of the past.”
The awards form part of the RCN North West’s annual event to recognise and celebrate the outstanding contribution of nursing staff either from or in service of those from BAME backgrounds who work in health and social care across the region.
This year’s conference, the theme of which was ‘Anti-Racism: A Public Health Solution’, took place on Wednesday at the Quaker House in Liverpool. Hosted by Joan Sadler OBE, Director of Partnerships and Equality, NHS Confederation, speakers included Dr Gunjit Bandesha, Director of Healthcare Public Health, NHS England North West, and Shabnaz Rahman, Senior Operational Manager- Stakeholder Outreach & Briefing Lead, Windrush Customer Support and Engagement Team at the Home Office.
The award winners this year reflect the wide-ranging initiatives being undertaken across a range of settings, including universities, healthcare settings and hospitals, in both clinical and non-clinical areas. They were recognised for their commitment to ensuring equity in access to healthcare provision for all and in the promotion and further recruitment of new nurses from the BAME workforce.