NHS Black and Minority Ethnic Leadership Forum

In 2003, the RCN and the NHS Confederation embarked on a unique partnership to bring together Black and Minority Ethnic leaders from across the NHS.

The Forum consists of 75 members drawn from all areas of the NHS. The voice of nursing is represented through the 25 BME nurses who attend and are supported by RCN’s Diversity and Equality Unit.

The goals of the NHS Black and Minority Ethnic Leadership forum are to promote leadership and more equitable access to services by BME communities through:

  • providing a conduit to key policy makers and opinion formers from a wide range of sectors to influence policy
  • extensive peer networking in order to share skills and experiences
  • acting as a resource to others in recruiting BME talent
  • promoting a sharing best practice.

The Forum has grown from strength to strength and its achievements have been many over the years. They include:

  • dDetailed consultation with the Healthcare Commission to prioritise race equality within the development of the core standards
  • contributed heavily to the King’s Fund publication Working to sustain progress black and minority ethnic non-executive directors.

RCN support

The RCN supports this agenda wholeheartedly, with Tom Sandford, the RCN Race Equality Champion and Director for England, saying: "It is critical for the development and credibility of the NHS that we succeed in attracting a rich cohort of directors in the NHS from BME backgrounds. The Forum has a key role to play in delivering this outcome.”

Donna Kinnar, Director of Nursing, Southwark PCT, also welcomes the Forum: “I believe that the Forum can support BME colleagues to deliver, as competent people, quality services for service users. We need to influence the policy agenda to achieve this.”

Further information

Further details on the work of the Forum can be obtained from the NHS Confederation website.