Why we must confront racism
We want South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to be a pioneer in furthering the equity of experience of our staff and experience, access and outcomes of those who use our services.
In our strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives , we set our ambition to be known for our action on anti-racism.
To achieve this, we must acknowledge the structural inequities, discrimination, and racism that our Ethnically and Culturally Diverse staff, service users, carers and communities face, and demand transformational change. We must speak up and empower those who have been seldom heard and strengthen the relationships with the people we serve to rebuild trust with those who have been let down by the system.
Within our organisation, our Ethnically and Culturally Diverse staff are less likely to gain access to development opportunities than white colleagues; less likely to be recruited to senior roles; are more likely to be taken down the formal disciplinary process; and are less likely to take part in engagement because of high levels of mistrust and inaction.
In the communities that we serve, our Black service users are more likely to be placed under section 136 of the Mental Health Act by the police; more likely to be physically restrained; less likely to be involved in research; and those who help care for them are disproportion ally underrepresented in co- production and the development of our servIces.
We can and must address these structural and institutional inequities.
We are proud to share this three-year action plan. It has been developed with staff, those who use our services, their carers, and wider members of our community. We will build on the work already taking place to ensure that we become a truly anti-racism organisation and act as a sign of the change that is needed across the country for mental health services.
David Bradley
Chief Executive
Sir Norman Lamb
Chair
