Chief Executives from Ambulance Trusts across the UK, including our Chief Executive Richard Henderson, are calling people to action to stamp out racism across our organisations.
Richard Henderson said: “I am working very closely with our BME network to make sure we are representative as a Trust, not only for the communities that we serve, but making sure that our people in the Trust are truly valued and supported throughout their career.
“It’s really important that we do everything that we can to stamp out racism.”
The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) have pledged to play a fundamental role in the achievement of positive and lasting change in stamping out racism – acting at both national and local levels.
In doing so, they will follow the Five Rs, and promise to:
Raise Awareness
We promise to create opportunities for discussion, listening, learning and education across our AACE network to increase individual, team and organisational cultural awareness and acceptance.
Respond
We promise to campaign for lasting, positive change and improved experiences for our BME workforce and communities and to use our platform as UK ambulance services to take a stand against racism and race discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
Represent
We promise to improve access to jobs, training and education, career progression and wellbeing support for our BME workforce and members of our diverse communities to ensure greater representation across our services.
Respect
We promise to put respect and compassion at the heart of our systems, processes, organisation behaviours and cultures to enable BME people to be confident, feel valued and express their true selves in the workplace.
Responsibility
We promise to call out racism in all its forms and to challenge racist behaviour whenever we encounter it or are made aware of it to create and nurture an anti-racist culture across the ambulance service.
At EMAS we have a dedicated BME Network where members can discuss their experiences, to share their stories, and to raise any BAME-specific issues they feel the organisation needs to address.
We have also shared a list of relevant resources to all our staff and stakeholders to help empower them on how to become a supportive ally for their Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) colleagues, friends and patients.