The NHS has advertised almost a dozen ‘woke’ jobs within the last few weeks, including one equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) role paying almost £123,000, MailOnline can reveal.
The recruitment drive comes days after Health Secretary Wes Streeting warned diversity and inclusion in the NHS has gone too far with some staff now promoting ‘anti-whiteness’ within the health service.
The Associate Dean with responsibility for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion role, advertised by NHS England, is based in the South West and comes with a salary of £122,470.
The salary is equivalent to the entry-level pay of up to three NHS doctors or four nurses.
According to the job description, the successful candidate can work from home 60 per cent of the time and will be responsible for ensuring medical students from different backgrounds have equal opportunities.
Speaking to this website, thinktanks called on Mr Streeting to get a grip on ‘woke’ jobs in the health service and instead put the funds towards frontline care.
EDI is an approach focusing on ensuring all people have equal rights and opportunities and those from diverse backgrounds are included and valued.
NHS bosses recently advertised a ‘woke’ equality diversity and inclusion role paying almost £123,000, MailOnline can reveal
Multiple NHS organisations have advertised EDI roles over the past few weeks, with some offering £90,000-plus salaries.
One is a Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at NHS North East London — and the candidate is tasked with ensuring ‘EDI is central to all agendas’ across the organisation.
Other job ads for EDI roles offering up to £50,000, well above the starting wage of NHS medics, were also sighted by MailOnline.
William Yarwood of the thinktank TaxPayers’ Alliance warned that the public was growing increasingly weary of jaw-dropping salaries for EDI roles in the health service.
‘Taxpayers are sick and tired of seeing six-figure salary EDI roles in their NHS,’ they said.
‘Multiple health secretaries going back years promised to do something about the growth of EDI roles in the NHS, and yet the amount of woke non-jobs grows by the day.
‘The government needs to get health bosses in line, abolish these roles, and put this money towards actually treating patients.’
It comes after Mr Streeting said the NHS must get back to the fundamentals of what equality means, so everyone gets high quality care.
Professor Karol Sikora, a retired oncologist, recently criticised the advertisement of the Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at NHS North East London
Speaking this week Health Secretary Wes Streeting warned there are some ‘really daft things’ being done in the name of equality that risk undermining its cause
He warned there were some ‘really daft things’ being done in the name of equality that risk undermining its cause.
Highlighting an example of an NHS worker who ‘merrily tweeted a job advert’ saying she practiced ‘anti-whiteness’, Mr Streeting said: ‘What the hell does that say to the bloke up in Wigan who’s more likely to die earlier than his more affluent counterparts down in London?’.
Mr Streeting is believed to be referring to a post on LinkedIn by a psychologist working at East London NHS Foundation trust.
In it, Dr Florencia Gysbertha called for trainees to apply for a work placement in the NHS.
She said: ‘The trainee will be supervised by myself, a counselling psychologist, who integrates anti-whiteness/anti-racist praxis into supervision and approaches to clinical work.’
While stating there were ‘real racial inequalities’ in health that need addressing, Streeting added that ‘ideological hobby horses need to go’.
‘What’s been lost, I think, with some well-meaning but misguided approaches to equality, diversity, inclusion – the clue is in the name – it’s equality, it should be applicable to everyone,’ he said,
But Mr Streeting is just the latest in a long line of health secretaries to call for a rethink of EDI priorities in the NHS, with little success.
In 2023, then Conservative health secretary Steve Barclay ordered the NHS not to recruit any more specialist EDI roles, but health chiefs refused to obey his instructions.
In 2023, then Conservative health secretary Steve Barclay ordered the NHS not to recruit any more specialist EDI roles , but health chiefs refused to obey his instructions
Mr Barclay was understood to have acted after discovering a hospital was trying to recruit a ‘director of equality, diversity and inclusion’ on a salary of up to £96,376.
One of his predecessors, Sajid Javid, also vowed to stamp out ‘waste or wokery’ in the health service before he resigned.
In total more than 35 such roles have been advertised since Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Government won the last general election — equal to one per week with the vast majority offering flexible working.
The continued spend on EDI is also attracting the ire of some medics.
Professor Karol Sikora, a retired oncologist, recently criticised the advertisement of the Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at NHS North East London.
Posting on X he said: ‘We’re told the NHS is underfunded… If that is the case, why is over £80k being wasted on this diversity role?
‘If it were up to me, every penny spent on these jobs/schemes would be diverted to frontline staff.’
An NHS England spokesperson said: ‘NHS trusts should be working to address inequalities to ensure the best possible outcomes for all patients and equal opportunities for staff – but equally should avoid making tokenistic gestures that don’t ultimately improve patient care.
‘Roles like these should be focused on boosting staff retention and helping all NHS staff to be effective in their work.’
