The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has signed an anti-racism charter as part of its ongoing commitment to becoming an ‘anti-racist organisation’.
The Unison charter outlines expectations for organisations and leaders looking to tackle racism in the workplace, including by requiring leaders to ‘set and regularly review’ strategies to improve racial equality, diversity and inclusion.
The NMC’s signing of the charter comes as part of its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion as set out in the regulator’s Culture Transformation Plan, published last month.
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The plan follows an independent review published last summer which exposed a ‘dangerously toxic culture’ at the regulator, in which bullying, racism and burnout are putting nurses and the public at risk.
NMC interim chief executive and registrar and co-chair of the culture transformation steering group, Paul Rees, said its signing of the Unison charter mark ‘an important milestone’ for the regulator as it works to embed equality diversity and inclusion ‘within every aspect’ of its work.
Mr Rees recently hosted a series of listening events with almost 800 colleagues and described feeling ‘shocked and disappointed’ to hear that some still face racism, bullying and discrimination at the NMC.
‘Committing to this charter is key to supporting the aims of our Culture Transformation Plan, and ensuring an inclusive organisation, where success is celebrated, poor performance is challenged, and people can be themselves at work, regardless of their background or characteristics,’ he said.
The charter is divided into three areas:
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- What our leaders will do
- What our organisation will do
- What our equality auditing process will review
The charter was signed at the first meeting of the NMC’s new Culture Transformation Steering Group on Monday, which was established to deliver on the measures outlined in the Culture Transformation Plan.
There are 19 commitments in the Charter, including:
- Recognising the need and benefit in championing a racially diverse workforce
- Challenging racism internally and externally wherever it arises in relation to our organisation
- Having a clear and visible anti-racism programme of initiatives and actions
- Undertaking ethnicity pay gap recording and publishing the results
- Reviewing our recruitment processes to identify and address race disparities in equality of opportunity
- Reviewing promotional processes to identify and address race disparities in equality of opportunity
Josie Irwin, Unison head of equality, said the NMC’s signing of the charter was a ‘significant step’ and that Unison would remain working with the regulator until the commitments are ‘fully implemented’.
She added: ‘The anti-racism charter is a powerful way to work together and ensure racism has no place in the health sector.’
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Last month the NMC revealed it was looking to recruit three senior figures to help change the culture at the organisation, including an executive director of people and culture and two heads of EDI.
