Sue and Sara's keeping in touch blog - issue 11

Latest blog from our Chair Prof Sue Proctor and our Chief Exec Dr Sara Munro – Black Lives Matter

Over the last 10 days we have watched the events in the US, UK and elsewhere. The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was shocking in its callous brutality. Reactions from the public across the globe have been furious, passionate, physical, emotional, raw and powerful.

Racism in all its forms is unacceptable, but for many of our colleagues and services users, it remains an ugly but commonplace experience in their lives. Words can be cheap, platitudes plentiful and good intentions, well meant, but take us nowhere fast in the challenge to this, another pandemic across our world.

Last week Public Health England produced a report describing individual and collective risk factors associated with dying from Covid-19. The report did not give any answers or solutions, but gave a ‘diagnosis’ of risk, and one of the higher risks was confirmed as being from a BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) background. We suspected this was the case, but the findings are no less terrifying for our colleagues, friends, families and service users in BAME communities. We are already working with colleagues to enable risk assessments for BAME staff and to provide as much information and support as we can.

On a personal level, Sara and I recognise that despite our collective careers in nursing, research and NHS leadership, that even though we strive to live our values, be good people and compassionate leaders, because we are white, we are privileged. Through reading, listening to BAME colleagues, and reflecting on their lived experiences, we are beginning to understand this privilege and what it means.

As leaders, we want to pledge to all our staff and service users that we will use the leverage of our positions as Chair and Chief Executive to work with the Board, the Trust and our Partners to challenge, to question, to make whatever changes we can to stamp out racism in our Trust. We want to move the conversation on from the use of warm words and focus on actions that we can all take to make our services welcome and beneficial to all.

We can’t do this by ourselves, we need your help. Working together, we want this organisation to enable BAME staff and service users to feel valued, cherished, understood and to be the best version of themselves possible. Sometimes conversations will be uncomfortable, challenging, upsetting, but they need to happen.

The Race Equality Network chaired by Wendy Tangen has been doing some terrific work in the Trust. Sara was able to attend (virtually) their meeting last week and get a real sense of the anger, hurt, frustration and impact the recent world events were having on colleagues, and also the fear generated by the PHE report on Covid-19 risk factors. Our approach to this work is based on the principle of co-creation. This will not be the start of management initiatives directed at the ‘frontline’, but rather an adult partnership to make real and positive change.

Our hearts break for the loss of life during the Covid-19 pandemic, but also for the hurt, pain and anguish caused by the pandemic of racism. We all have a role to play and a responsibility to act now.

Black Lives Matter. BAME Lives Matter