Professor Mala Rao, Senior Clinical Fellow at the Department of Primary Care and Public Health, has been nominated to serve as the Vice Chair of the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standards Advisory Group established by Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of NHS England and Lord David Prior of Brampton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health with responsibility for NHS productivity. Set up with the aim of addressing racism and ethnic inequalities in the NHS workforce, the Group is chaired by Sir Keith Pearson, Chair of Health Education England and includes as its members, all the Chairs of the NHS family of organisations or their representatives. The Group was launched following the publication of two reports in 2014. One highlighted ethnic disparities in senior leadership positions in the NHS, and the other, led by Professor Rao, explored the likely drivers of lower levels of wellbeing in England’s ethnic minority population including in the NHS workforce.
I decided to become a General Practitioner when I realised that a robust primary care system is essential in the development and functioning of any Community. As GPs, we are the first port of call of all illnesses, whether acute or chronic, and we must remain up to date at all times to ensure excellent care. With this in mind, I was determined to not just become a GP, but to explore the different opportunities available to us. This determination led me to have a taste of performing my medical duties in a wide variety of places: traditional GP surgeries, hospitals, prisons, walk-in centres, out of hours services, 111 telephone service, urgent care centres and private practice. These experiences have offered me valuable insight into what makes the fibres of our Community function and why some medical problems are significantly skewed in some ethnicities, social circles or economic groups. But gaining this rewarding knowledge and exposure would somehow be fickle if I were not able to s...
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