Networkology - sparking the purple wildfire in the NHS

The summit was called in response to the proposed introduction of the mandatory workforce disability equality standard in March 2018 and the ambition of the NHS and social sector to make real the idea of disability being seen as an asset. The summit also addressed the aim from the recent government green paper to halve the current employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people. 

Kate and other speakers from NHS England, the Learning and Work Institute, Mencap led lively discussions on initiatives and action plans that would effectively contribute to closing the disability employment gap and improve the career prospects of talented disabled employees.

Kate of course focused on the vital role that staff networks play in driving cultural and organisational change on disability at work.

• The need for a real commitment from NHS leaders to bridge the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people.

• The critical importance of improving recruitment processes generally for disabled people - and recognition that traditional recruitment practices don't work for all groups, particularly for learning disability recruitment.

• The critical role of staff networks, for them to be both well organised and planned, but also curious.

• The need for disabled staff to offer their knowledge to non-disabled leaders and managers to help them learn.

We are very excited about ongoing opportunities to help NHS employers to improve performance on disability and inclusion by learning directly from disabled employees. We also look forward to welcoming NHS staff networks and disabled employees as members of our purple community.

You can read a full review of the Disability Summit here which includes links to the keynote presentations including Kate’s.

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