Published: 8:56 p.m. EDT, September 17, 2023 | Updated: 9:03 p.m. EDT, September 17, 2023
The NHS has created hundreds of diversity and inclusion roles, a move that has left Health Secretary Steve Barclay “frustrated”.
Seen in plans by The TelegraphThe NHS has proposed three new departments – Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, People and Culture and People and Communities.
244 positions will be recruited across all departments, although Mr Barclay said in a letter to health authorities in March that diversity and inclusion should be covered as part of “normal management processes” rather than by specific teams.
A source close to Mr Barclay described teams dedicated to equality as “enforcing woke doctrine”, and the health secretary himself called on NHS England to scrap the roles to “ensure value for money” .
NHS waiting lists in England are at a record high, with 7.68 million – or one in seven people – waiting for routine treatment.
In plans seen by The Telegraph, the NHS has proposed three new departments: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, People and Culture and People and Communities
Almost £14 million has been earmarked to staff the new D&I departments, which are due to come into force from April next year. There is a staffing budget of £3 million for a specific Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) department.
Of the 244 positions, 177 will be recruited with salaries of more than £50,000.
The new EDI department will focus on “policy, knowledge and expertise in areas other than race and disability”, while other new departments, “People and Culture” and “People and Communities”, will focus on inclusion – such as LGBT -Health and inequalities.
A source close to the health minister described the move as a “realignment of backroom bureaucracy rather than frontline patient care”.
Despite calls to focus on patient care, Mr Barclay has cut one in six civil servant positions at the Ministry of Health since October, reducing the workforce by around 600 people.
Frank Young, director of the right-wing think tank Civitas, claimed: “Most ordinary people will be horrified to see money that could be spent treating sick people in hospitals again being spent on equality consultants.”
Mr Young also claimed the new roles would “likely” come at the expense of “real healthcare for patients”, although he provided no evidence to support this claim
NHS waiting lists in England reach record high with 7.68 million – or one in seven people – waiting for routine treatment (file photo)
The strengthening of the equality role in the NHS comes after The Independent revealed in January that the health service had failed to improve “shocking” levels of racism among staff.
As many as one in three Black employees reported experiencing discrimination or bullying, compared to just one in five white employees. Rates were found to have not improved over the past five years.
An NHS spokesperson told The Telegraph: “While the NHS has legal obligations to meet equality, it has an important role to play in retaining and recruiting the hundreds of thousands of NHS staff needed to provide patient care now and in the future.” “The number of EDI roles in NHS England has actually fallen by more than a third in the last year, as part of our efforts to ensure an even greater share of NHS funding goes to the front line.”
MailOnline has contacted NHS England and DHSC for comment.
