Government health agency recruits post for £40,000/year ‘diversity and inclusion advisor’

By Liam On Oct 12, 2022

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is hiring a ‘senior diversity and inclusion advisor’, despite Government promises to crack down on ‘waste and wokery’.

The position, which pays up to £46,000 per year, also includes the possibility of flexible hours and working from home.

According to the job description, the successful candidate will ‘drive a culture of inclusion across all UKHSA sites’ and deliver ‘Let’s Talk about Race’ sessions for other employees.

Thinktanks today accused the Government of failing to keep promises to ‘ditch diversity demagogues’.

But UKHSA bosses said the diversity post would help protect the nation’s health and that the Government body was ‘committed’ to inclusivity.

The job ad comes despite an order earlier this year by former Health Secretary Sajid Javid for the NHS to axe similar positions and focus on frontline services and clearing backlogs.

The UK Health Security Agency has advertised for a £46,000-a-year ‘senior diversity and inclusion advisor’ despite promises from ministers to stamp out the roles

WHAT DO THE LATEST NHS PERFORMANCE FIGURES SHOW?

The overall waiting list jumped to 6.84million in July. This is up from 6.73million in June and is the highest number since records began in August 2007.

There were 2,885 people waiting more than two years to start treatment at the end of July, down from 3,861 in June but still higher than April 2021, when the figure started to be recorded.

The number of people waiting more than a year to start hospital treatment was 377,689, up from 355,774 the previous month.

Some 28,756 people had to wait more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England in August. The figure is down from 29,317 in July but is the second highest for any month since record began in 2010.

A total of 130,528 people waited at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission in August, down slightly from the all-time high of 136,298 in March.

Just 71.4 per cent of patients were seen within four hours at A&Es last month, the second-worst ever performance. NHS standards set out that 95 per cent should be admitted, transferred or discharged within the four-hour window.

In August, the average category one response time – calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries – was nine minutes and eight seconds. The target time is seven minutes.

Ambulances took an average of 42 minutes and 44 seconds to respond to category two calls, such as burns, epilepsy and strokes. This is more than twice as long as the 18 minute target.

Response times for category three calls – such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns and diabetes – averaged two hours, 16 minutes and 23 seconds. Ambulances are supposed to arrive to these calls within two hours.

Some 424,605 patients were waiting more than six weeks for a key diagnostic test in July, including an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy.

This came amid concerns that NHS funding was being swallowed by management salaries, rather than on services.

While the Government’s UKHSA is not part of the NHS, its hiring of ‘diversity and inclusion’ positions is likely to be seen as hypocritical considering both are funded by the taxpayer.

The £46,000 pound salary is enough to pay for the equivalent of two newly qualified nurses, who earn about £25,500.

Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager for the Taxpayer’s Alliance, said that Government hiring of diversity and inclusion roles was out of control and placing undue strain on nation’s finances at a time of fiscal trouble.

‘Warm words to ditch diversity demagogues during the leadership campaign have clearly fallen on deaf ears in Whitehall,’ he said.

‘Ministers need to get a grip on these non-jobs and ensure value for the taxpayer.’

Under the job description, a senior diversity and inclusion advisor would help ensure inclusivity was at the heart of UKHSA’s work.

‘We are looking for someone who has a passion and understanding of diversity and inclusion, who is capable of independently delivering projects which drive culture change and who ensures that wherever we work, we add value and engender the spirit of inclusion,’ it reads.

This would include: ‘Inclusive Recruitment training, Lets Talk about Race sessions, corporate induction and presenting on other new and emerging topics.’

The role was advertised both on the NHS’s jobs website as well as the civil service’s.

Other similar posts across the civil service were uncovered by the political blogging site Guido Fawkes.

The diversity recruitment comes at a time of massive health challenges faces Britain, with a record care backlog and soaring A&E wait times.

Waiting lists for treatment currently stand at a record 6.8million and almost 30,000 of Britons were forced to wait over 12 hours in for care in emergency departments in August.

Jac Gardner, UKHSA’s chief people officer, said the ‘senior diversity and inclusion advisor’ would help protect the nation’s health and that the Government body was committed to being an inclusive workplace.

‘As a relatively new organisation, we continue to recruit to our permanent structure and everyone at UKHSA plays an important role in helping us to better protect the nation’s health,’ she said.

‘We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where our differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and the communities we serve.’

UKHSA was founded in April 2021, replacing Public Health England.

NHS England figures show 6.8million patients were in the queue for routine hospital treatment in July, equivalent to one in eight people. Nearly 380,000 have been waiting for over one year

Emergency unit data shows that three in 10 Britons were forced to wait longer than four hours in A&E departments in August, while nearly one thousand per day waited for 12 hours

Mr Javid’s commitment to stop the proliferation of ‘diversity and inclusion’ posts across the NHS came during the launch of a review of NHS management by General Sir Gordon Messenger, published in June.

His successor, Therese Coffey, has yet to address her predecessor’s commitment to stamping out the roles.

However, new Prime Minister Liz Truss vowed to cut civil service diversity jobs when she was on the campaign trial to become leader of the Conservative Party.

MailOnline revealed in August that the NHS was going on a diversity and inclusion hiring spree, posting five adverts for senior equality roles at trusts across England.

Some of these paid up to £76,000 per year, which could be spent on at least two NHS nurses, who make about £37,000 annually on average.