Staff invited to take part in first Cultural Ambassadors Programme

Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin ICS is delighted to launch its first Cultural Ambassadors (CA) programme and is now inviting staff to be part of the new venture.    

The ICS would like to hear from any NHS member of staff who would like to get involved in The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) programme. It is open to all Bands across the system.

Volunteers would receive specific training – they would be involved in working with recruitment and selection teams to address under-representation. This could involve reviewing current recruitment practices such as job advertisements and where we publicise them as well as sitting on interview panels. 

Their role is to identify and explore further issues of culture, behaviour, where staff may be being treated less favourably, potential discrimination and unconscious or conscious cultural bias. 

As a CA your role would be to be curious about these issues, making them transparent and create dialogue to establish the potential impact of the outcome. 

Kal Parkash, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Workforce Directorate at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SaTH), said: “We are really excited to be launching this programme across the Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin ICS. This demonstrates our commitment to addressing workplace inequality and creating cultural change across the system, where all staff have a sense of belonging, in line with the NHS People Plan. 

“This programme is an ideal opportunity for staff to get involved and help influence our inclusion work agenda and we are looking forward to working with RCN to ensure that we all get the best out of the programme.” 

The programme is due to begin on Tuesday 7 September 2021 and will involve attendance at four half-day workshops on 7,9,10,13 September for cohort 1 and 11, 13, 18 and 21 October for Cohort 2.   

Expressions of interest and the role profile can be found within appendices E and D of this guide, and all applications need to be supported by line management and submitted to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Tuesday 20 July.  

For SaTH more information is available from Kal Parkash (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.); For the CCG and Primary Care Phil Morgan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.); Shropshire Community Health Trust Fiona MacPherson (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)  and RJAH David Low) (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).