We commissioned external research organisation ResPeo to evaluate the Fellowship Programme (cohorts 1 and 2 at that point). Through this evaluation, we gained some helpful information about where we were getting things right and what we could improve. Encouragingly, we had already made many changes outlined in the report before we received the information and at the start of cohort 3.
The Fellowship Programme continues to be a learning process for the fellows, organisations involved, the system and leadership development team, and for the wider health and care partnership. This allows us to take an approach of learning and improvement so that the structure of the programme changes as we learn more from everyone involved.
The evaluation highlighted six key areas detailed below with associated quotes from fellows.
Ambition “(develops) participants to be job ready for more senior roles” “(promotes) carving out new opportunities” “gives me fire”
Skills “a greater understanding of corporate functions and governance at senior level” “has enabled me to have the confidence (…) to challenge positively and how to work collaboratively with leaders in the room”
Culture “We have been able to recruit to a role that we struggled to previously and the individual has brought new cultural perspectives” “(offers) a unique perspective to change conversations”
System readiness “(the programme) supports system working” “(brings) increased knowledge and understanding of the wider system” “the system is richer for having diversity of voice
Placement “The programme facilitates growth and development of both fellows and placement teams” “The fellowship programme has had an impact through reciprocal learning by both the fellow and (the placement)”
Inclusion “(built) opportunities with allies” “We work hard to create an environment where everyone is included” “The programme created an environment that was supportive and inclusive”
Although the Fellowship Programme is a step in the right direction, some participants felt that the system was not able to scale-up and that capacity and resources were major barriers to this.
One of the recommendations was that we develop an approach to assess and ensure system readiness. System readiness is another way to describe how individuals, teams and organisations have a culture that embraces and respects racial difference.
Some fellows from across all our cohorts tell us they can experience the barriers we are trying to address. Examples include feeling like they don’t ‘fit in’ to the established culture, not feeling heard, being in an environment where there is little diversity which impacts on the decisions made.
In November 2024, the System and Leadership Development Team, with the involvement of many other voices from across West Yorkshire, successfully wrote a business case to expand the Fellowship Programme and create a tandem programme to address and develop anti-racist leadership (system readiness).
Senior leaders across West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership were supportive of the business case. And the importance of the work to improve racial equity to improve the outcomes of our colleagues, people accessing our services and communities. The business case also highlighted the huge amount of public funds that is wasted because of the inequality in health outcomes.
See the Anti-racism and system readiness page.
