This week’s leadership message comes from Fatima Khan-Shah, West Yorkshire Inclusivity Champion

Posted on: 14 February 2025

The Power of One and the Power of Many – Our Vision for Equity and Social Justice

This week, I am filled with pride as we introduce our new vision for equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). The moment is not lost on me, as I genuinely believe that our vision is not just important, but urgently needed right now.

Fatima Khan Shah The challenges we face are significant, and the tough choices we must make are more complex than ever. As we look back on the UK's journey toward fairness and inclusion, we must remember the struggles people have faced for decades in the fight for equity and justice. This difficult path has brought us the laws and commitments we value today, but it's important to recognise that our progress has been hard-earned.

Putting these policies into action has not been consistent. Many equality initiatives remain just ideas instead of becoming real changes. Too often, organisations treat diversity as a tick-box exercise, hitting the targets and sometimes missing the point rather than genuinely working to create meaningful change.

As we encounter new global and national challenges, I can’t help but notice that many organizations are backing away from their promises to promote and uphold equality, diversity, and inclusion. We are now at a pivotal moment: do our organisations truly live up to the values we claim, or do they merely follow changing policies?

In West Yorkshire, we firmly believe that diversity is our greatest strength. We understand that true inclusion is not just a nice idea; it is essential for our workforce to thrive and helps us provide safe, high-quality services for everyone. Our new strategic vision goes beyond the average—it's a vision focused on fairness and social justice. It encourages us to come together, harnessing both individual and collective strength as we oppose injustice.

Here in West Yorkshire, we have made a strong commitment to stand firm through these challenges. We aim to actively promote equity and fairness for all, not just in words but through our actions. This is our mission and our passion. Together, we will build a future that respects the dignity of every person, standing united against those who try to divide us.

You can find out more about our new West Yorkshire equity and fairness strategy on the Partnership website.

Our blog this week is from Laura Singleton, Head of Workforce Transformation, NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board and Caroline Frascina, West Yorkshire Allied Health Professional (AHP) Faculty Strategic Lead

Last week saw the launch of the West Yorkshire ICB's Allied Health professional (AHP) Clinical Fellowship, where 28 fellows came together from across trust, private, voluntary and independent sectors to form the inaugural cohort.

The inter-professional collaborative approach aims to support a deeper understanding of how West Yorkshire health and care systems work across organisational boundaries in leading change and improvement. The fellows will be able to consider and develop a different skill set, one that moves beyond a focus on individual approaches into a collective and multi-professional approach, which in turn will contribute towards better patient care.

Times of increased operational pressure can often result in limited opportunities to gain new skills around professional development. Having a system approach to developing and implementing the fellowship model has meant that it could be carefully designed to deliver a quality leadership experience, while limiting any impact on service delivery by keeping the fellow within their own service throughout the programme.

The fellowship aims to support the AHP workforce needs highlighted in our West Yorkshire AHP Faculty Workforce Strategy, which outlines commitment to developing a talent pipeline, facilitating career development and pathways and championing a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Running over 12 months, the fellows will undertake leadership training days delivered by experts within our system, with a focus on collaborative and compassionate leadership. Each fellow will be assigned a leadership mentor, made up of senior system leaders who have committed their time to guide the mentee by providing their experience and expertise.

The second part of this model supports the clinical fellow to design, plan and implement a quality improvement project that will run within their own service, allowing them to gain experience and understanding of setting direction, influencing others and managing change, while also offering the opportunity to see the direct impact of their project on improving patient care.

Support from the West Yorkshire AHP Faculty and Council, along with workforce leads in our places, has provided us with the opportunity to align these valuable quality improvement projects with system priorities, such as digital improvement and innovation and enhanced patient care and productivity, along with increasing clinical placement opportunities. This has allowed us to create a system-wide sharing approach to improvement.

We are planning to advertise the second cohort of the Fellowhip in August 2025, which will include a series of webinars for those interested in applying. For more information, visit: AHP Clinical Fellowship :: Workforce Transformation

Thank you for reading.

Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust welcomes new chief executive

Brent Kilmurray has been appointed as the new chief executive of the Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust. He will take over from Len Richards in April.

Brent is currently chief executive of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, a mental health trust. He has decades of experience in the NHS in a variety of roles and sectors, including seven years at the level of chief executive. He is also familiar with our region, having previously been chief executive at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust.

National Apprenticeship Week, 10 to 16 February 2025

National Apprenticeship Week 2025 is a week-long celebration highlighting the value, benefits and opportunities that apprenticeships bring to individuals and organisations. The theme this year is ‘skills for life’.

Experienced professionals can also take part to boost their careers and develop new expertise. In this article, Emma Marshall, a senior primary care manager in Wakefield District working towards a Senior Leader Level 7 Apprenticeship, explains how apprenticeships can support people at all stages of their careers and why they’re such a great way to gain new skills

New exhibition calls for action in response to 50 years of mental health and racial inequalities

The inspiring narratives of 60 people, captured as a creative response to 50 years of mental health and racial inequalities in Leeds, are showcased in a new digital exhibition, launched this week.

Remembering What’s Forgotten’s digital exhibition champions unheard community and lived experience narratives to tackle the overrepresentation of Black and South Asian men detained under the Mental Health Act in Leeds.

Based on nine months of interviews, focus groups and creative interventions, the co-produced exhibition features the lived experience narratives of 30 Black and South Asian men, carers, community advocates and asylum seekers.

Also highlighted are 30 community, heritage, culture, third sector and mental health system activists, artists and leaders, tasked with reimagining a more equitable mental health system.

Funded by Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT), the exhibition’s launch is timely as the Trust has just announced its first ever health inequality strategy that centres anti-racism in its mental health services. Find out more on the LYPFT website.

New hospital newsletter

Airedale NHS Foundation Trust has launched a newsletter to keep people updated about its new hospital programme. Please visit their website for details

Local mental health organisations unite to boost support for young people

Mental health charities, Northpoint and Invictus Wellbeing, have teamed up to support a national initiative aimed at expanding the children and young people’s mental health workforce.

Both organisations are increasing their capacity to deliver hundreds more mental health interventions for children and young people facing challenges such as anxiety and low mood. This collaboration builds upon their six-year partnership with the Calderdale Open Minds (CAMHS) initiative, a partnership of organisations who deliver signposting, advice and mental health interventions for children and young people. Find out more on the Northpoint website.

New Innovation Network podcast

Listen to the latest podcast by the Health Innovation Network in which Neville Young, Director of Enterprise and Innovation, is joined by the NHS Confederation’s Michael Wood and Amy Lochtie, West Yorkshire Innovation Hub Director. Following the Chancellor reconfirming that economic growth is the number one mission of this government, hear how health innovation plays a key role in delivering economic growth, and why health is a driver for wealth. Listen to the podcast

"My ‘side hustle’ supporting medical responses in disaster zones" - Amjid's experience highlights our amazing NHS

In this new blog, Amjid Mohammed, A&E consultant at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, reflects on his experience of working in a hospital in an active war zone in Lebanon.

The Hub’s clinical psychologist supports Punjabi men’s mental health on BBC Look North

The Punjabi Men’s Peer Support Group in Leeds aims to break down the stigma associated with mental health, particularly within Punjabi culture and men.

Dr Rajinder Dhanjal, West Yorkshire Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub’s clinical psychologist, showed her support for the group when they were both featured in a recent episode of BBC Look North to help spread awareness of the importance of the group.