London Ambulance Service needs action plan to improve workforce diversity

The London Ambulance Service’s five-year strategy should include targets and an action plan for how it will improve workforce diversity to better represent the city it serves, with only one in five of its current workforce from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background.

Although this proportion is increasing, the level of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background representation varies at different levels in the organisation, with 40.9 per cent in the lowest four employment bands compared to 15.9 per cent in the highest.

The London Assembly Health Committee has today written to the London Ambulance Service (LAS) with 5 recommendations for its new organisational strategy for 2023-28, following a discussion with representatives and a call to patient groups and members of the public for written evidence.

The recommendations include urging that the LAS 2023-28 strategy includes an action plan for how it will improve workforce diversity, in particular for paramedics.

LAS accepts that this is an area in which it wants to improve, telling the Committee that “an only 20 per cent diverse workforce… in a city where 50 per cent of people are not white British, that feels totally wrong”.

Representatives suggested to the Committee that the workforce will become more ethnically representative of London by increasing take-up of different routes into paramedicine, such as the entry-level ambulance practitioner programme, and by training and upskilling its call-handlers.

Other recommendations include:

• The LAS should include in its new strategy commitments to increase levels of patient engagement, in order to give patients a greater say in how services are delivered.
• The LAS should include in its new strategy specific commitments and targets around public awareness and education initiatives. These should relate to issues such as when the public should call 999, how they should do so, and actions they can take to prevent emergency care being required in the first place.
• The LAS strategy should include commitments and targets to increase its outreach work in schools and colleges, in order to encourage more people into the profession.

Chair of the London Assembly Health Committee, Krupesh Hirani AM, said:

“London is one of the most diverse cities in the world and our blue light services should reflect the cultures and communities they serve.

“It is encouraging that the London Ambulance Service’s new strategy includes a commitment to improving diversity in the organisation, as with only one in five of its current workforce from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background, it is not truly ethnically representative of London.

“We believe that a detailed action plan with specific targets on how it will improve diversity among frontline paramedics and the organisation as a whole would be an important step to better represent the diversity of our city.”