Eight in ten trusts more likely to appoint white staff to jobs

Eight in 10 trusts are significantly more likely to appoint White applicants than Black and minority ethnic applicants after shortlisting, new NHS England data has revealed.

The latest data, from the 2024 NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) report, which covers the 12 months to March 2024, reveals this metric applied at 80% of trusts.  

It has worsened from the previous year (76%) and the year before that (71%). 

While the London region has seen year-on-year improvement in this area, NHS England said it has “progressively deteriorated in the Midlands,” while there has been a “marked deterioration” in the North West .

The report said: “Recruitment from interview remains the most difficult to change metric, with the national likelihood ratio remaining broadly unchanged since the inception of the WRES in 2016.”

The relative likelihood of staff from minority ethnic backgrounds entering formal disciplinary processes compared to White staff has also worsened.

According to NHSE, just over half (51%) of trusts reported that these staff were 1.25 times more likely to enter these processes than their White colleagues.