Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has launched a new fellowship programme – the Kofoworola Abeni Pratt Fellowship – to help address under-representation in senior leadership roles.
Aiming to tackle ‘the gap in senior leaders’ amongst staff who ‘identify as being from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds’, the programme will select five fellows in December 2021, with the posts due to begin in March 2022.
The one-year programme, which will provide personal and professional development, is open to nurses, midwives and allied health professionals from trust.
According to the trust, part-time roles are included and successful applicants, while being based out of the Nightingale Academy, will be able to work across the organisation, alongside their current clinical roles.
The fellowship will include taking part in projects and group work, as well as participation in the creation of a leadership programme for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals from ethnic minority backgrounds.
The programme is named after Kofoworola Abeni Pratt, the first black nurse to work in the NHS. She arrived in the UK in 1946 and was the first black student to attend the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St Thomas’.
Kofoworola later became a staff nurse at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, and a charge nurse at St Thomas’, before eventually returning to Nigeria to set up a nursing school at the University of Ibadan, among other achievements.
Avey Bhatia, Chief Nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’, said: “We know that nurses, midwives and allied health professionals identifying as being from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background are under-represented at a senior level.
“We’re taking positive action to create career development opportunities for our staff and the Kofoworola Abeni Pratt Fellowship, which honours a remarkable nurse leader, is a unique opportunity for their personal and professional development.”
