Diversity isn’t a box to check, it is a strength to build upon which makes us better.
The way that we develop and adopt innovation and technology must also be based around our core mission to serve all our population. It is critical that the transformation of our health service reduces and not widens health inequalities.
To this end, the AHSN Network has made three diversity pledges:
We commit to implementing a recognised process to self-assess and improve equality performance in each of our organisations
- We will set annual equality and diversity objectives, report on these to our Boards and publish achievements and challenges in our annual reports
- We will have a designated person within each organisation with whom concerns about equality and diversity can be raised
- The AHSN Network will annually review and publish its collective performance including performance for any national programmes, for example ensuring diverse representation in decision making processes for the NHS Innovation Accelerator
We commit to empowering and supporting our staff to be positive role models for equality and diversity
- We will undertake positive action to ensure our workforce reflects the diversity of the communities we serve including steps to ensure diversity at all levels
- We will encourage our staff to positively challenge and promote positive action when they see a lack of diversity
- All AHSN staff will have undertaken unconscious bias training by the end of 2020
We commit to understanding the impact of our work on all members of our communities and for our work to reflect the equality and diversity within these communities
- We will carry out Equality Analysis on all national and key local projects and programmes
- We will actively engage with, and involve, diverse communities in our work, ensuring we include people from marginalised and seldom-heard groups
- Our publications and communications will promote diversity, highlight diverse role models, challenge stereotypes and champion the positive impact of diversity on innovation
Read the AHSN report ‘Diversity and innovation – a celebration of BAME innovators and our pledges to do more’ which shares the stories of innovators from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds and sets out pledges by the AHSN Network to further support the diversity and innovation agenda.
Access the report here.
We spoke to Dr Jason Mellad, CEO and co-founder of Start Codon, about why businesses should be embracing input from people with different backgrounds to produce better ideas and outcomes.
We will not succeed in addressing health inequalities without diverse innovators… who can develop and support solutions that enable the inclusion of all members of our society.