Leona Fensome, Nasreen Ali, Emma Gill

Explore the barriers and enablers to workforce diversity, career progression and integrated care in the health and social care workforce. We will use an oral history approach to record the career stories of NHS and Social Work staff working in BLMK. Evidence shows a deficit of allied health professionals from black and minority ethnic working in the NHS. While the allied health professions make up the largest clinical workforce, they have the lowest percentage of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic workers. There are also fewer Black, Asian, and ethnic minorities represented in senior – band 8 and above positions. Evidence shows that recruiting the ‘home grown’ NHS workforce from the communities it serves contributes to providing culturally competent healthcare services and leads to improvements in quality of care for patients, increased patient satisfaction and improved health outcomes.