Kulwinder Kaur, Practice Educator at Aintree Hospital, has won a Royal College of Nursing (RCN) award to mark her outstanding contribution to the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda at the RCN’s annual regional Black History Month conference.
Kulwinder was awarded for her commitment to supporting the careers of internationally recruited colleagues, teaching and assisting them to achieve their clinical competencies. Along with pastoral care and advice, plus supporting them in their professional development and NMC revalidation.
She has also been integral in developing and delivering a leadership training programme for newly appointed Band 6 nurses/deputy ward managers within their division. Due to its success, our other hospital sites - the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen, have started to access the programme.
Demonstrating a clear understanding of the challenges of ethnic minority HCAs and RNs face in the workplace, Kulwinder actively supports other colleagues who face challenges. As a member of the Trust’s Ethnic Minority Nurses’ Forum, Kulwinder also actively contributes to the organisation’s annual celebration event for internationally recruited nurses and AHPs; rallying all staff to engage and showcase their cultural heritage.
Congratulating the award winners, Estephanie Dunn, Regional Director of RCN North West, said: “Our Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic nursing community play a vital role in caring for people and their families across the region and these awards celebrate the unique contribution that they make. We are proud to honour their achievements alongside those who work to address inequalities that this demographic contends with on a daily basis.
“No one, no matter their ethnicity or place of birth, should be denied the same rights and opportunities afforded to others and there are few places where that disparity is more apparent than in the health and care sector. Despite progress made by employers to address race inequality, discrimination in the health and care sector is systemic - and it’s clear it still has a long way to go in overcoming the prejudices that both patients and staff face and to achieve greater equality.
“However, hearing how valued our award winners are in their organisations gives me hope that one day having to fight inequality within the health and care sector will be a thing of the past.”
The awards form part of the RCN North West’s annual event to recognise and celebrate the outstanding contribution of nursing staff either from or in service of those from BAME backgrounds who work in health and social care across the region.
This year’s conference, the theme of which was ‘Anti-Racism: A Public Health Solution’, took place at the Quaker House in Liverpool. Hosted by Joan Sadler OBE, Director of Partnerships and Equality, NHS Confederation, speakers included Dr Gunjit Bandesha, Director of Healthcare Public Health, NHS England North West, and Shabnaz Rahman, Senior Operational Manager- Stakeholder Outreach & Briefing Lead, Windrush Customer Support and Engagement Team at the Home Office.