The Fourth National Ambulance BME Forum

Felicia Kwaku, an Associate Director of Nursing at Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust described the experiences of racism to the audience. It was difficult listening. She explained that:

• Racism Exists – some people die, some people survive
• It has killed people, those waiting for professional referral processes, George Floyd etc
• It has been indoctrinated into communities and needs to be indoctrinated out
• Race is a man made introduction with links to the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin
• Denial of the existence of racism is an issue within our communities
• What would happen if all the BME staff in the NHS downed tools and refused to work? The NHS would suffer – badly!
• We must tell the international recruits that there are issues of racism in the organisation they are coming into
• Beware – the darker your skin, the more racism you face
• Are our health and well-being services fit for purpose for the needs of our staff…

However…

• Black History Month this year is about ‘reclaiming the narrative’ – we have a chance to dispel any myths and misconceptions
• We need heroes and bold leaders; we need to be courageous and stick together
• We need to live the values of race equity
• We need to be activists
• A number of anti-racist toolkits are available; there is also the EDI action plan, and we need to use this and implement the change incrementally
• We need to be prepared to ‘speak up and speak out’
• We need supportive leaders to help us manage and understand racism
• We must create cultures of civility, respect and safety
• We must address the lack of representation in leadership and decision making
• We must review our policies through an anti-racist lens and ensure they reflect the needs of the people
  

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Workshop topics on the day were:

1. International Recruitment
2. Cultivating your empowering state when facing racism
3. Race and Disability – Beyond Barriers: Race, Disability and the path to support
4. Mindfulness: Can it help with Racism-Related Stress?
5. ‘Emotions – Approach and Avoid’– How to approach and talk to people with emotional dysregulation and why people avoid taking action or talking about emotional states of mind
6. ‘Beat the burnout’– Impact of nutrition on managing burnout, fighting exhaustion and increasing resilience.

Feedback from what people took from the day …

• How much more there is to do to engage the profession in this agenda
• Keep speaking up and highlighting the experiences and needs of our ethnically diverse staff
• Be radical, be progressive because that’s the only way we can bring about change and build resilience
• Our experiences matter
• Need for more conferences and meetings
• The coaching session was really insightful and interesting – Cultivating your empowering state when facing racism. Overall having the CEO from London Ambulance Trust speak was the icing on the cake for me due to his commitment to inclusion issues
• Beating the burnout and the importance of looking after fellow workers particularly the diverse minority who sometimes are left out
• We are able to make a positive change and have allies who can support this
• The lived experiences stories were very inspirational
• “Not to just survive racism, but to work towards addressing it as a collective”
• There is a framework in place that supports us, we just need to know how to stick to it and apply it
• Inspiration for my journey in allyship
• To connect with those in SCAS who were not in the room – the actions and drivers for change are clear, we just need to make sure everyone sees the importance and the urgency
• Several points from Felicia…
  Measure outcomes of interventions
  Be explicit about what you will and won’t tolerate
  A greater understanding of the work of the Race Health Observatory – and awareness of the importance of this
• Happy staff = happy patients
• Inclusive leadership – is being comfortable with the uncomfortable
• Trust = Truth x Consistency x Time
• Support is available within organisations
• The need for transactional and transformational change
• Being comfortable by having uncomfortable discussions and challenging people
• Contacts to get stuff done
• A lot of work is still needing to be done but we are making some progress and we are not alone 

Combating racism is everyone’s responsibility, but it requires empowerment.

We’ll continue to post our Spotlight updates each month in our website’s News section and via X / Twitter at @AACE_Org.