The Workforce Race Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of nine specific measures which enables the Trust to compare the workplace and career experiences of black and minority ethnic (BME) and white staff. The Trust uses the data to develop and publish an action plan. Year on year comparison enables the Trust to demonstrate progress against the indicators of race equality. Five metrics are taken from the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) and the remainder are taken from the staff survey. All percentages relate to those who completed the staff survey.
- Name of organisation
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
- Date of report
Month: May Year: 2025
- Name and title of Board lead for the Workforce Race Equality Standard
Vicky McFarland-Reid – Director for Commercial Development and Innovation
Interim Executive Lead for the People Directorate.
- Name and contact details of lead manager compiling this report
Karen Pearce – Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (People).
- Unique URL link on which this Report and associated Action Plan will be found:
- This report has been signed off by on behalf of the board on:
Date: 23 May 2025.
Name: Vicky McFarland-Reid – Director for Commercial Development and Innovation
Interim Executive Lead for the People Directorate.
Background narrative
- Any issues of completeness of data?
A comparatively small number of unknown/null data relating to ethnicity of current staff remain.
- Any matters relating to reliability of comparisons with previous years?
None.
- Total number of staff employed within this organisation at the date of the report (March 2025)?
16,777 (excluding bank and agency staff).
- Proportion of BME staff employed within this organisation at the date of the report?
19.92% (Full Time Equivalent (FTE)).
- The proportion of total staff who have self–reported their ethnicity?
- Have any steps been taken in the last reporting period to improve the level of self-reporting by ethnicity?
Employee Self-Service portal now includes a portlet to notify staff if they have not updated their equality and
diversity details in the past 12 months and allows them to update their record directly from the portal.
- Are any steps planned during the current reporting period to improve the level of self-reporting by ethnicity?
Associated action within the EDI Improvement Plan.
- What period does the organisation’s workforce data refer to?
April 2024 – March 2025.
Workforce Race Equality Indicators
- Percentage of staff in each of the AfC Bands 1-9 and VSM (including executive Board members) compared with the percentage of staff in the overall workforce. Organisations should undertake this calculation separately for non-clinical and for clinical staff.
Non-Clinical Workforce 2024 and 2025 (headcount).
Key Metrics Non-Clinical Workforce
- Ethnic non-clinical workforce has grown by 1.32% in the last 12 months.
- Growth has taken place at bands 3-6 with smaller changes in higher bandings.
- In 2024 there were 7 members of non-clinical staff at band 8A and above, in 2025 this has increased to 9.
- Ethnicity is under- represented following band 7.
Clinical Workforce 2024 and 2025 (headcount)
| Ethnicity 2024 | Ethnicity 2025 | |||||
| Band | % White of whole Clinical Workforce | % BME of whole Clinical Workforce | % Not Recorded of whole Clinical Workforce | % White of whole Clinical Workforce | % BME of whole Clinical Workforce | % Not Recorded of whole Clinical Workforce |
| Band 1 | 0.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Band 2 | 8.10 | 0.65 | 0.07 | 7.02 | 0.78 | 0.08 |
| Band 3 | 10.28 | 1.54 | 0.12 | 9.83 | 2.21 | 0.12 |
| Band 4 | 3.98 | 0.31 | 0.06 | 4.04 | 0.36 | 0.04 |
| Band 5 | 18.72 | 10.29 | 0.44 | 18.27 | 10.27 | 0.36 |
| Band 6 | 16.23 | 1.71 | 0.17 | 16.10 | 1.97 | 0.23 |
| Band 7 | 11.30 | 0.52 | 0.15 | 11.62 | 0.67 | 0.12 |
| Band 8A | 2.79 | 0.13 | 0.06 | 2.98 | 0.16 | 0.05 |
| Band 8B | 1.02 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.97 | 0.02 | 0.01 |
| Band 8C | 0.42 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.43 | 0.00 | 0.01 |
| Band 8D | 0.06 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.05 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Band 9 | 0.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| VSM | 0.05 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Consultants | 5.64 | 1.91 | 0.22 | 5.70 | 2.04 | 0.24 |
| Senior Medical Manager | 0.21 | 0.05 | 0.00 | 0.21 | 0.05 | 0.00 |
| Non-Consultant Career Grade | 1.29 | 1.39 | 0.03 | 1.48 | 1.37 | 0.08 |
| Trainee Grades | 0.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Other | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Totals | 80.14% | 18.52% | 1.34% | 78.79% | 19.88% | 1.32% |
Key Metrics Clinical Workforce
- Ethnic workforce has grown by 1.36%.
- As at March 2024 there were 19 clinical BME members of staff at band 8A and above, in 2025 this has increased to 23.
- Clinical staff are underrepresented above band 6.
- Ethnicity – consultants increased by 19, no changes to medical management numbers nor non-consultant careers grades.
- Medical and Dental under-represented in Consultant and Medical Management.
- 99.89% of staff have recorded their ethnicity.
- Relative likelihood of staff being appointed from shortlisting across all posts?
Data for reporting year: 1.81
Data for previous year: 1.35
Trust data identifies BME members of staff are less likely to be appointed from shortlisting across all posts.
- Relative likelihood of staff entering the formal disciplinary process, as measured by entry into a formal
disciplinary investigation?
Data for reporting year: 1.7
Data for previous year: 0.47
Trust data identifies BME members of staff are more likely to enter formal disciplinary processes.
Trust is now outside the non-adverse range of 0.8 – 1.25.
- Relative likelihood of staff accessing non-mandatory training and CPD?
Data for reporting year: 0.86
Data for previous year: 1.41
Trust data identifies BME members of staff are more likely to access non-mandatory training and Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
- Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, relatives or the public in
last 12 months?
Data for reporting year: White 22.03% BME 22.66%
Data for previous reporting year: White 22.34% BME 22.15%
- Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff in last 12 months?
Data for reporting year: White 20.95% BME 26.98%
Data for previous year: White 23.01% BME 32.62%
- Percentage believing that trust provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion?
Data for reporting year: White 57.84% BME 47.24%
Data for previous year: White 57.04% BME 45.45%
- In the last 12 months have you personally experienced discrimination at work from any of the following?
Manager/team leader or other colleagues.
Data for reporting year: White 6.31% BME 19.11%
Data for previous year: White 7.58% BME 21.81%
- Percentage difference between the organisations’ Board voting membership and its overall workforce?
Data for reporting year: BME -8.7%
Data for previous year: BME -12.1 %
- Are there any other factors or data which should be taken into consideration in assessing progress?
None.
- Organisations should produce a detailed WRES action plan, agreed by its board. It is good practice for this action plan to be published on the organisation’s website, alongside their WRES data. Such a plan would elaborate on the actions summarised in this report, setting out the next steps with milestones for expected progress against the WRES indicators. It may also identify the links with other work streams agreed at board level, such as EDS2. You are asked to provide a link to your WRES action plan in the space below:
- Organisational Priorities Going Forward
Over the last year we have listened to feedback and understand that experiences of inclusion and equity vary across the Trust. This is something that we are determined to change. Improving peoples experience is not just the right thing to do, it’s essential to our culture, our performance and to maintain the trust our staff and patients place in us. We have and will continue to take a reflective and transparent look at our data, culture and systems to better understand the barriers that exist and how we can improve. In the past 12 months we have:
- Developed and piloted our Compassionate Leadership Programme, designed to embed values-led leadership across all levels of the organisation. The programme focuses on self-awareness, listening, inclusion, and psychologically safe team cultures. Feedback from the pilot has shaped our plans for full rollout and wider adoption.
- Updated our appraisal process to centre on values, behaviours and meaningful conversations about personal and professional development. We’ve shifted away from purely transactional performance reviews, towards a culture of regular feedback and recognition—supporting both wellbeing and accountability.
- Developed and launched a Behaviour and Civility Charter co-designed with staff from across the Trust. This sets clear expectations for how we treat one another with the aim of promoting a culture where respect and kindness are non-negotiable. The Charter is being embedded through training, team discussions and visible leadership support. Linked to this we continue to deliver our Incivilities/Micro-aggressions training; for staff on civilities/micro-aggressions, supporting the roll out of our People Programme and raising awareness of poor behaviour.
- Reviewed and refreshed key policies and procedures to ensure they actively promote inclusion and equity.
- Strengthened our approach to Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) to ensure that all service changes, policy updates and major decisions are assessed through an inclusion lens. We’ve delivered targeted training to leaders and to improve both the quality and consistency of EIAs across the organisation.
- Introduced a new Sexual Violence Policy in response to NHS-wide data insights locally and nationally. This policy strengthens our support for staff who experience sexual harassment or violence and reinforces our zero-tolerance approach.
- Commenced our Anti-Racism Programme, informed by staff feedback, workforce data and best practice. This work is focused on becoming an actively anti-racist organisation, which includes leadership accountability, safe spaces for staff, and a structured programme of listening, learning and action. Additionally, we have held a ‘let’s Talk Race’ Board Development session organised by our REN Staff Network and facilitated by the EDI Team.
- Held and EDI action planning workshop.
While progress has been made, there is still much more to be done to create a truly inclusive environment. We acknowledge that our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion hasn’t always been effective enough to meet the needs of our people and patients. We are committed to being honest about where we are, and intentional about where we want to go in making improvements.
We have seen some early signs of improvement following our staff survey results. A 60% improvement in staff survey responses is to be celebrated and our results overall are in line with the NHS average when benchmarked against other acute and acute & community Trusts with statistically significant gains in compassionate leadership, health and safety climate, support for work-life balance, flexible working and relationships with line managers are encouraging. However, going forward we need a concerted focus on culture and EDI – both WRES and WDES results have improved but remain a long way from where we need them to be. Improvements in staff experience and engagement must be targeted at relationships within and across teams – the association with patient safety, patient experience and performance are clear. Staff Survey results from will directly inform the Year 2 objectives in the People Plan and be shared widely across Clinical Boards and Corporate services.
Report of Karen Pearce
Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (People)
May 2025
