ACB webinar in partnership with Abbott: Proactive inclusion as an aid to find talent

The ACB partnered with Abbott to deliver an interactive webinar centring on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in the context of healthcare recruitment.

This session was due to be facilitated by Mark Powell, Country Manager for Point of Care at Abbott and senior sponsor for the UK chapter of Abbott's Ethnic Employee Network. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, ACB Chief Executive Jane Pritchard acted as webinar chair during this session.

We heard insights from the following panel of speakers:

  • Dilini Peiris - Senior Clinical Scientist, Clinical Biochemistry, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and ACB EDI Champion 
  • Joe Teape - COO, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
  • Rachel Wilmot - ACB EDI Champion, Consultant Clinical Biochemist (retired), Hull
  • Jane Pritchard - ACB Chief Executive
Abbott

Here is a top-level summary of the main points made during the webinar. Please watch the webinar in full above for more in-depth information.

  • University Hospital Southampton is a large teaching hospital on the South coast of England which recognised it could go further with its efforts to create an inclusive and diverse workforce. This came to light in particular as long-term illness and ethnicity were found to be correlated during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, staff were asked to declare disability and illness during that time, which added to its diversity data. Thus, the Inclusive Leaders programme was formed as a platform for reciprocal mentorship between hospital staff members. Webinar speakers Joe Teape and Dilini Peiris were each other's reciprocal mentors on the programme and gave details about their positive experience on it.
  • Rachel Wilmot’s workplace before she retired was in Hull, where recruitment was predominantly local. Due to the impact of certain reputational hits and staff surveys, the leadership team launched a study to understand what the staff wanted the environment to feel like. Then, individual responsibility was sought through the use of ‘I will…’ and ‘I won’t…’ statements, tackling inappropriate behaviours and encouraging allyship. In addition, an outreach initiative was launched, coordinated by a colleague named Chris Chase, which involved science sessions and mentoring opportunities with pupils in deprived areas making A-level and university choices, engaging with local careers advisers and more.
  • The ACB has seen improvements in diversity and inclusion thanks to continuous work done by the EDI working group, led by EDI Champions Rachel Wilmot and Dilini Peiris. The goal is for ACB leadership to reflect its membership, which has changed over recent years. The ACB has been collecting data about the make-up of its membership, so we know that, at the time of the webinar, 22% of members identify as  minority ethnic and 73% of Council members are women. Through events and conversations such as the ones during this webinar, we aim to engage more with our members on equality, diversity and inclusion, and continue to improve our approach.

Recommended resources and further reading