Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Clinical Fellowship

AHCS, in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Scientific Officer (OCSO) NHS England, are pleased to open the application process for an EDI Clinical Fellow to help our professional truly embed EDI and create a culture where everyone can thrive.  The 12 month EDI Clinical Fellowship will start in January 2023 and run until December. The successful fellow will receive 1:1 coaching and/or mentoring with a national senior leader and training budget allocation to support your EDI training needs.

About healthcare science and EDI

1. There are more than 50,000 healthcare science (HCS) staff in England – responsible for delivering over 150 healthcare services and conducting over one billion tests and examinations each year; HCS impacts three out of every four clinical decisions made in the NHS. Restoration, recovery and prevention are major priorities for the health service in 2022/3, with a national delivery plan to address backlogs and tackle long waits for care, with a massive expansion in capacity for tests, checks and treatments.
2. HCS will need to play its part to tackle the significant challenges on the health service, including improving rates of early stage cancer diagnoses, and reducing rates of cardiovascular disease, which was identified as one of the five clinical priorities for tackling health inequalities in the NHS Core20PLUS5 approach.
3. For the HCS workforce, these priorities require service transformation, innovation, and scientific evidence-based policies. To achieve this, the HCS workforce needs to work on a broader scale, with more collaboration with the global science community, and to move to a ‘learning system’ – where HCS can influence, inform, and implement the evolution of the health and care system.
4. Whilst recruiting a sustainable workforce is high priority, taking care of our existing people is of equal importance in terms of service sustainability. The NHS People plan for 2020/214 clearly identifies the urgency for our NHS leaders to “focus on how we must all continue to look after each other and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, as well as action to grow our workforce, train our people, and work together differently to deliver patient care.”
5. In terms of HCS, there needs to be concerted effort to raise visibility of healthcare science, develop future leaders, accelerate our work to embed EDI practices, health and wellbeing, mental health and address disparities across healthcare science, to ensure we have a more equitable, diverse and inclusive workforce. Through working differently and creating safe, supportive, and inclusive working environments where diversity is valued, everyone contributes, and everyday actions ensure equality, diversity and inclusion policies and principles are upheld and promoted by all, whilst making the ambitions of the NHS People Promise are a lived reality.

We are looking to recruit a clinical fellow to help our profession truly embed EDI and creating a culture where everyone can thrive!

Please seek approval from your employer before applying for the fellowship as the expectation is the fellowship will commence in January 2023 – as per timelines below

Who can apply

As a healthcare science professional, you will play a key role in embedding EDI across the HCS profession. To succeed in the role, you will:

1. Hold a master’s degree or equivalent experience of working at a senior level in specialist area
2. Experience and passion in delivering / or supporting the delivery of an EDI related programme
3. Ability to work flexibly (the post will be funded on average 2 days a week, dependent on past experience)
4. Significant leadership and management experience
5. Ability to work autonomously with limited direction
6. Ability to navigate through ambiguity and stakeholders with conflicting approaches

What is the timeline for the clinical fellowship?

1. 31 October – Applications open
2. w/c 14 November – Candidates shortlisted
3. w/c 28 November – Candidates interviews and presentations
4. w/c 12 December – Candidates appointed
5. w/c 16 January – Candidates commence

Application process

Please complete the Application Form, which includes the requirement for a short outline proposal on your approach to delivering an EDI strategy and toolkit across the HCS profession. The CSO’s Office Equality and Diversity in healthcare science workforce – Findings Report is provided for your information.

What is the selection process for the clinical fellowship?

Diverse system partners from across England including the Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS), professional bodies and NHS England will review the applications against a selection criteria.

What will the interview process look like for the clinical fellowship?

The selection process will include a diverse panel made up of senior leaders across the healthcare science community, all of whom have an interest and clear understanding of EDI. It will be an interactive session, hosted on Microsoft Teams, where candidates will be asked several competency based questions, as well as a 15 minute presentation (question to be published once application process is open).  Both the panel and candidates will then have further opportunities to ask questions. The process will be a two stage process:

(1) Presentation with Q&As, approx. 30 mins.

(2) Interview, up to 40 minutes

What are the expected outcomes for the clinical fellowship?

Over the duration of the clinical fellowship, the expectation is that the fellow will work across a wide range of system partners (e.g. professional bodies, NHS England OCSO and People Directorate) to inform the development of a national strategy and EDI toolkit that can be embedded at all levels to help support, guide and create a truly inclusive workforce across HCS.

Governance that will help steer the development of the EDI strategy including EDI toolkit and establishment of internal EDI governance structure to help steer the work of the fellow, provide support and monitor progress, with final approval for resting with the national HCS workforce and partnership Board (hosted by commissioning organisation, NHS England).