New report celebrates diversity in health innovation

A new report highlighting the compelling business case for increased diversity in innovation in the NHS is to be launched by the AHSN Network at Health and Care Innovation Expo 2019 in Manchester today, Wednesday 4 September 2019.

The report ‘Diversity and innovation – a celebration of BAME innovators and our pledges to do more’ 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.

Richard Stubbs, Chief Executive Officer at Yorkshire & Humber AHSN, said: “The AHSN Network recognises that we have a leadership role to play in championing and developing diversity within our NHS innovation pipeline.

“This is why we are making some key pledges, as a national network, that demonstrate our commitment to this agenda. We will use these pledges to hold ourselves to account for the way that we identify and nurture innovation and the innovators behind them, both inside and outside the NHS and we will publish our progress annually.”

The AHSN Network pledges include committing to:

• Implementing a recognised process to self-assess and improve equality performance in each of our organisations
  
  
• Empowering and supporting staff to be positive role models for equality and diversity
  
  
• Understanding the impact of our work on all members of our communities and ensuring our work reflects the equality and diversity within these communities.

Richard added: “We will not succeed in addressing health inequalities without diverse innovators, both from within and outside of the NHS. We need innovators from all backgrounds who can develop and support solutions that enable the inclusion of all members of our society.

“Research shows that when at least one member of a team has traits in common with the end user, the entire team better understands that user. A team with a member who shares a client’s ethnicity is 152% more likely than another team to understand that client.”