NHS England is working to develop an ‘equality, diversity and inclusion improvement plan’ for all four sectors of primary care.
The commissioner said that there is ‘significant variance’ regarding the support primary care workforce receives around equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
NHS England’s policy team, with primary care medical director Dr Claire Fuller and chief workforce officer Dr Navina Evans, is therefore looking to develop ‘a bespoke EDI improvement plan for primary care’, a document which will ‘outline a case for change’.
It mentioned a primary care workforce report from 2022 which found that 12% of respondents ‘left or considered leaving their role’ due to racial discrimination or harassment, and that three out of 10 said that colleagues or managers ‘had harassed or discriminated them due to their personal characteristics’.
NHSE will be working with ICBs, the Department of Health and Social Care and the BMA’s GP Committee to create the plan and they will ask GPs’ opinions over the next few months, including at events taking place in the next few weeks.
The plan is expected to be published in September next year.
During a webinar for GPs last week, NHS England’s EDI implementation unit principal lead Claire Parker said: ‘We are looking to develop an EDI improvement plan that is specifically for primary care. It will be for all four sectors of primary care, so general practice, dentistry, optometry and pharmacy.
‘And the really important thing for us is that we want to co-design it with all of you that actually work in those sectors.
‘So we are looking to hold a series of engagement events over the autumn, starting in a couple of weeks time, inviting colleagues in primary care roles to share your ideas with us, share your experiences with us, and give us some ideas on how we can develop something that is used.’
Last month, NHS England published guidance for GP practices on how to handle racist incidents, whether from patients or colleagues, in the wake of ‘civil unrest’ across the country.
This includes taking a ‘robust’ disciplinary approach to staff involved in racist behaviour outside of work, as well as ensuring staff know what to do if they are subjected to racism in the workplace.
That will be really helpful.
And ‘co-designing’ it with all of us.
That’s exactly what we need in the current crisis – well done and excellent thinking NHSE.