It’s nearly the end of 2016 and we thought we’d spend the the twelve days of Christmas sharing some stories and successes from the last year from across the Trust, as well as some useful tips to stay healthy in 2017.
We’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
On the eighth day…
Black History Month is a nationwide celebration of black history, arts and culture throughout Britain and an acknowledgement and celebration of diversity and the richness it brings to our society.
We took this opportunity to find out about the lives and experience of eight staff from all levels throughout the Trust, which tell their stories of working in the NHS. We also spent the month honouring the achievements, culture and contribution black and minority ethnic (BME) people have made to our society, and especially the contribution made here at the Trust.
Rachel Chitima and Dr Richard Mupanemunda came to the UK from Zimbabwe during the time of apartheid. Rachel was separated from her parents as a young girl when her father fled the country because he was a political activist. Dr Mupanemunda was the only black student in his intake of 120 students at medical school and the first black senior registrar in paediatrics at Hammersmith Hospital.
Both Dr Govindan Raghuraman and Dr Roopa Mulik moved here in their twenties with just £300 in their pockets to pursue a medical career in the UK.
Veronica Morgan started her nursing training in Walsall at the age of 17 after being born to a middle class family in Jamaica with servants and private schooling.
Byron Batten’s parents moved to the UK from Jamaica in the 1960’s and during his time working for Birmingham City Council, he saw first-hand the inequalities that people faced.
Riaz Janjua is our head of equality and diversity and spoke of his struggle to find a job after moving to the UK from a senior management role in Pakistan.
Dr Deji Okubadejo came to the UK in 1991 and has had his own less-than-positive experiences while working for a large teaching hospital in the north of England.
Read their stories here.
We also hosted a free conference focusing on the impact BME staff have made whilst working within the NHS. It explored the clinical and cultural issues that particularly affect BME staff across both Trusts and discussed the opportunities to create an inclusive environment for all to work.
The speakers were from all walks of life, different disciplines and departments, and they talked about their achievements and the challenges that they have faced.
They included Theresa Harris, retired faculty educator; Carlton Murdock, deputy associate director nursing at University Hospitals Birmingham; Donald Buchanan, speciality doctor: Trauma and Orthopaedics at University Hospitals of North Midlands and Sonia Orr, organisational development manager at Shrewsbury Community Foundation Trust.
