Race equity in mental health: the systemic, legislative change we need
Shania Ruddock, Deputy Director of the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, recently attended the NHS Confederation Expo as part of the BME Leadership Network (BLN) Lunch. In her own words, she shares her reflections on the powerful conversations that took place, the national call for legislative change, and why race equity in mental health must move beyond ambition to become a legal and financial priority:
"On 11 June 2025, I was proud to support the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) at the NHS Confederation Expo as part of the BME Leadership Network (BLN) Lunch, under the powerful theme: “Anti-Racism is Improvement.”
I was honoured to be alongside national leaders including Dr Jacqui Dyer, NHS England’s National Mental Health Equalities Advisor, and Husnara Malik, Advancing Mental Health Equalities Lead at NHS England. The session was chaired by Professor Jagtar Singh OBE and expertly facilitated by Joan Saddler OBE, Director of Partnerships & Equality at the NHS Confederation.
The discussion was grounded in the urgent need for systemic, legislative change in how we approach race equity in mental health. Central to our message was the call to legislate the PCREF, elevating it from policy guidance into statutory obligation.
Currently, PCREF is included in NHS England contracts for 2025/26, but without the legal weight of the Mental Health Bill, implementation across the country remains patchy, underfunded, and often optional. As panellists and delegates highlighted, this leaves it up to individual Trusts to decide how seriously to take race equity; something that should no longer be negotiable in 2025.
South London and Maudsley NHS Trust was one of the first Trusts in the country to submit formal support for inclusion of the PCREF in the draft Mental Health Bill, well ahead of the 19 June deadline.
During the session, I spoke openly about:
The real cost of racial inequality in our services, not just in terms of injustice, but in terms of financial waste. At a time of national constraint, we can no longer afford for our system to be inefficient and inequitable. Inequity is not just unethical—it is expensive, and solving it is not a luxury, but an imperative.
There was consensus in the room: communities cannot wait another generation for reforms that should have been implemented decades ago. The PCREF must be legislated, not just to improve services, but to save lives and restore public trust in mental health care.
As an organisation our work in this space is not just about service improvement. It is about savings and efficiency, and ultimately better mental health for all".
