BME Leadership Network
Strengthening the voice of black and minority ethnic leaders.
All of the People, All of the Time: Anti-Racism in Leadership Conference 2026
At the NHS Confederation, our mission is to equip leaders at every level with the insight, confidence and community needed to improve care for all.
Community
Race equality
Workforce
The BME Leadership Network (BLN) is a member-led network dedicated to establishing a truly diverse NHS leadership by strengthening the voice of black and minority ethnic communities.
We aim to bring about sustainable change, so the NHS always delivers high quality universal care to all communities, by supporting members to overcome strategic and operational barriers to delivering equality.
Our offer is aligned to our four strategic pillars of directed action, system influencing, celebration and legacy.
Why join?
We respond to the needs of members and the prevailing policy context, delivering support in the form of:
- three in-person events each year including our spring anti-racism conference, our network lunch at NHS ConfedExpo and our Black History Month lecture
- bi-monthly bulletins, including our anti-racism bulletin that shares the latest developments, learning opportunities, good practice and event information
- evidence gathering to influence key decision makers, these findings are published in our reports such as Excellence through equality and Shattered Hopes.
Safe spaces to discuss shared experiences including our:
- virtual network member meetings
- BME Leadership Network of Network Leaders for chairs of NHS staff BME/BAME networks
- leadership development sessions exclusive to network members.
Join our movement
We are open to all NHS leaders from BME backgrounds. We recognise that there are great BME leaders operating in many roles and levels, not just as senior managers, and aim to support them all. We also welcome allies.
Join usI highly recommend joining the BME Leadership Network, a vital platform empowering NHS black and minority ethnic leaders. It enhances your voice, fosters support, and contributes to the inclusivity and responsiveness of NHS organisations to diverse community needs.
Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Kings College Hospital Foundation Trust
The business case and evidence base for supporting BME leaders
- The Messenger review highlighted the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion in leadership and in response, the NHS equality, diversity and inclusion improvement plan was published which states that “Where diversity – across the whole workforce – is underpinned by inclusion, staff engagement, retention, innovation and productivity improve.”
- The Workforce Race Equality Standard data shows a direct link between staff and patient satisfaction: improving staff experience is essential to improving services and although racism in the NHS is acknowledged, it remains a problem. For example, data shows that in 2023 just 39 per cent of staff from a black background believed that their trust provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion.
- To address persistent racialised health inequalities, it is imperative to embed anti-racism within the operations of the NHS. Our Excellence through equality report highlights the efforts undertaken by our members to enhance services for healthcare workers and patients, recognising anti-racist work as an integral service improvement tool aimed at reducing racial inequalities.
Shattered Hopes report findings
- In our report published in 2022, more than half of surveyed BME NHS leaders considered leaving the health service in the last three years because of their experience of racist treatment while performing their role as an NHS leader. A majority said they had experienced verbal abuse or abusive behaviour targeting racial, national or cultural heritage at least once in the past three years, with more than 20 per cent saying this had happened five times or more.
- Colleagues, leaders and managers seemed to be a particular source of racist treatment, more so than members of the public.This suggests that more focused efforts are required at every level to reduce the incidence of racist behaviour and to improve awareness among all staff of the impact of this type of discrimination.
- Only 10 per cent were confident that the NHS is delivering its commitment to combat institutional racism and reduce health inequalities and fewer than one in four were confident that their organisation has a robust talent management process that is enabling the development of a pipeline of diverse talent.
- Senior BME staff reported low levels of confidence in their own organisations’ abilities to manage and support a pipeline of diverse talent and in the ability of the system to achieve this at a national level. Moreover, only a minority were confident they could rely on the support of colleagues to challenge racial discrimination, and a smaller minority believed they would be supported by NHS England and NHS Improvement if challenging prejudice or discrimination locally.
- Leaders described how structural and cultural issues within the NHS led to a situation where BME leaders were not present in sufficient numbers to generate a climate of inclusivity and were sometimes siloed in particular types of role. This helped to create a situation where career progression was felt to be unduly challenging and where neither succession planning nor talent development were occurring at sufficient scale to support the next generation of diverse leaders.
- Being able to be authentic in the workplace was an issue that emerged powerfully. Some leaders reported policing their own behaviour in the workplace and compromising their values in order to fit in. Being able to represent their own cultures and be themselves at work was a critically important goal for many. For BME leaders, feeling secure that they will be treated equally, regardless of background, was seen to be the ultimate success measure of equality.
- It is essential that BME leaders are able to see effective development programmes to support diverse talent, and that they are provided with sufficient support, both locally and nationally, to feel secure in calling out unacceptable behaviour when this occurs.
- At such a critical juncture for the NHS, action must be taken to end cultures of discriminatory behaviour, to provide personal support to current and aspiring leaders, and to develop succession planning and talent development schemes.
Who we are
The BME Leadership Network is led by chair Richard Stubbs and facilitated by Joan Saddler OBE.
Richard Stubbs
Chief Executive, Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber and Chair, Health Innovation Network
Richard Stubbs is a leading health innovation expert with an NHS career spanning 20 years. Richard is also the chair of the BME Leadership Network.
Joan Saddler OBE
Director of Partnerships and Equality, NHS Confederation
Joan Saddler OBE was formerly national director of patient and public affairs based within the patient and public engagement and experience division at the Department of Health and Social Care. Areas of responsibility included NHS and 3rd sector liaison, complaints, local involvement networks (LINks) and transition to Healthwatch.
As a former primary care trust chair and mental health trust non executive, Joan also brings a system wide governance lens to her work along with her experience as a chief executive within the community and voluntary sector. Joan was awarded an OBE for services to health and diversity in 2007. Her experience informs her role working with the chief executive of NHS England as co-chair of the national NHS Equality and Diversity Council.
Dr Masood Ahmed
Non-Executive Director for SW London ICB and Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust, Trustee at Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity
With over two decades of experience, Dr Masood Ahmed is a familiar figure in the NHS, known for his leadership in digital transformation, healthcare innovation, and workforce development. He serves on various advisory and Board roles, including as a Non-Executive Director for SW London ICB and Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust, Trustee at Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity and former Visiting Lecturer at UCL Global Business School for Health.
Masood is dedicated to nurturing future healthcare leaders through mentoring initiatives at Oxford University and as a key member of the NHS Confederation BME Leadership Network Steering Group, where he initiated a national BME leadership mentoring programme to support emerging leaders of colour. His extensive career encompasses roles such as Global Medical Director at Dell, and Chief Medical Officer for NHS Black Country during the pandemic.
As Chief Digital Information Officer for NHS Shropshire Integrated Care System, he spearheaded the 'digital first, not digital only' strategy. A clinician at heart, he is a passionate advocate for systems leadership, quality improvement, and mindful AI. Masood's contributions to healthcare are marked by a commitment to transformative change, innovation and tackling health inequalities.
Professor Dame Donna Kinnair DBE
Professor Dame Donna Kinnair has held various roles in the NHS across primary and acute care, including clinical director of emergency medicine at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals and executive director of nursing for the South East London Cluster board.
Previously at the Royal College of Nursing Donna was CEO and general secretary from 2018-2021.
She advised the Prime Minister’s Commission on the future of Nursing and Midwifery in 2010 and served as nurse/child health assessor to the Victoria Climbié Inquiry.
In 2008, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to nursing.
Professor Jagtar Singh CBE
Professor Jagtar Singh OBE is co-chair of the Asian Professionals National Alliance (APNA), he was also the chair of Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT) from 2014-2024.
Jagtar has a wealth of expertise, including 30 years in the fire and rescue service, and 12 years in non-executive roles in the NHS (having previously worked as a non-executive director in the ambulance service, and Luton and Dunstable University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust).
During his time at CWPT, Jagtar has brought about, with board members, a clear focus on delivering culturally competent care, reducing health inequalities, and introducing an inclusion leaders’ model that has seen several improvements in their Workforce Race Equality Standard, staff survey, gender pay gap and CQC results.
Jagtar is recognised for his passion and support for reducing inequalities. He has been selected by NHS England to serve on the NHS Assembly and is a trustee of NHS Providers, which ends in June 2023.
Jagtar was acting chief fire officer in Bedford and Luton Fire and Rescue Service and rose from fire fighter to divisional commander in the West Midlands Service.
In 2003, Jagtar received both the Public Servant of the Year Award at the Asian Achievement Awards ceremony in Birmingham, and an OBE for his work on equality and diversity in the fire service.
In the NHS, Jagtar has been recognised for his work on equalities and inclusion and he has received awards from national bodies including the Health Service Journal (HSJ). In 2020 he was named by the HSJ as one of the 50 most influential BAME leaders in health and won the National Asian Achievement Awards in 2016 for most influential NHS leader.
Jagtar has also served as a trustee of several charities in the past including the Healing Foundation, Employment Opportunities for Disabled People and Bedford Race Equality.
Dr Shera Chok
Shera is a GP in East London and the former Chief Medical Officer at NHS Digital. She started the multi award-winning Shuri Network in 2019 as she is passionate about increasing diversity, innovation and safety and to encourage other women from minority ethnic groups to lead and engage with digital transformation. Her experience includes working with leading healthcare organisations in Asia, Africa, Europe, the UK and the US since 1993.
She was awarded the international Richard von Weizsäcker Fellowship in 2023 by the Robert Bosch Academy to examine the German digital health strategy in Berlin and help develop insights that will help health systems implement digital transformation and deliver safer, more equitable and innovative care.
Shera has held national leadership roles with NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care and led complex national and local programmes to improve patient outcomes and reduce inequalities. She worked at Barts Health NHS Trust as Director of Primary Care from 2010-2016, helping to improve patient pathways across organisational boundaries. She advised health ministers as a member of the NHS Independent Reconfiguration Panel for seven years.
Shera has volunteered as a clinician in countries including Sudan, Laos, Indonesia and Greece with NGOs working in war and disaster zones and with displaced populations. She studied at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement, Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard School of Public Health on the NHS Executive Fast Track programme, focusing on quality improvement, community engagement and leading change. She has completed an M.B.A., M.A. in Inter-professional Education and a Nuffield Trust Fellowship on cross-organisational learning with Sunderland Athletic Football Club.
Dr Mohit Venkataram
Dr Mohit Venkataram was appointed as Deputy Chief Executive at the Trust in March 2024 having previously been the Executive Director of Commercial Development at East London NHS Foundation Trust.
Previous roles include executive director of business development and performance at the trust in November 2016 having previously been the board commercial and business development director from February 2011.
Mohit has extensive strategic and operational management experience in acute Trusts, community Trusts, and social care and mental health organisations. Mohit was the former Deputy Managing Director for Newham Health and Social Care Services across Newham Primary Care Trust and the London Borough of Newham. He has also worked as a practicing clinician in the private and statutory health sector abroad.
Mohit’s qualifications include MBBS, MBA and a PGDML.
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