NHS Confederation - Action for equality: The time is now

9 Sep 2020 03:28 PM

Yesterday the NHS Confederation’s Health & Care Women Leaders Network launched an important new report Action for equality: The time is now.

The report builds on and expands the work undertaken for the 2017 NHS Women on Boards 50:50 by 2020 report which examined the steps the NHS needed to take to reach the target of equal gender representation on boards by 2020.

Findings in the new report show that while progress has been made to increase the proportion of women in leadership roles across the health service, there is more to do to meet the NHS target for 50:50 representation this year, as set by the NHS regulator in 2016. 

The report makes 16 recommendations for action which focus on the behavioural responses required of senior individuals within NHS boardrooms. Including the need for chairs of NHS organisations to have explicit objectives to support diversity across their boards, and for clear succession plans to be set up to improve female representation, particularly in medical director and chief finance officer roles, with emerging leaders at mid and senior levels given the opportunity to experience board-level working.

Read the full report and the executive summary here.