We have launched our anti-racism perfect care goal in June 2022.

Mersey Care has zero acceptance of racism, discrimination, and unacceptable behaviours from and toward our workforce and our patients, service users, carers and families.

By launching the perfect care goal we were reaffirming our commitment to actively oppose racism and making a commitment that we would do things differently going forwards.

The core principles of our anti-racism plan are:

  • Support
  • Education
  • Challenge.

Within a restorative, just, and learning culture we will hold ourselves and each other to account for being actively anti-racist. This approach allows us to unapologetically and purposefully identify, discuss and challenge racism.   

Since the launch of our perfect care goal there has been progress in many areas.  Whilst there continues to be work to be completed and taken forward these are some of the achievements made:

  1. The launch campaign included two weeks of activities raising awareness and highlighting the core messaging of the perfect care goal. In order to enable us to clarify the intention of the perfect care goal as Strategic Plan with an underlaying operational plan was developed.
  2. The anti-racism work has cascaded through the organisation in many ways. Including videos, leadership forums, clinical and dental senates, YourBrief, YourSpace, training and development, inductions and woven throughout the core leadership, belonging and engagement offers.
  3. For the 23/24 PACE window we asked people to record activity and have discussions about becoming “actively anti-racist”.  This has take the conversation to every employee of Mersey Care.
  4. We had a whole series of events for Race Equality Week in 2022. This included sessions on microaggressions, the importance of names, psychological safety, and anti-racism.
  5. The anti-racism eLearning module was launched in August 2023 and so far nearly 90% of our workforce have completed the module.
  6. Work to review recruitment and retention processes has been taking place and we introduced a new values-based training programme for recruiters that includes our anti-racism work.
  7. Specific anti-racism modules have been developed within all our leadership module and we have woven anti-racism, inclusion and belonging throughout our core leadership offer.  
  8. The QRV team now includes discussion and assessment of cultural and anti-racism within their programmes of work.
  9. The Respect and Civility Wheel (previously jigsaw) was launched in November 2023, this now clearly identifies microaggressions and the impact that they can have on colleagues.    
  10. Working closely with our Multi Ethnic Colleagues Network we have been cocreating and developing the work we continue to take forward.
  11. We have commissioned a racialised trauma support offer and this was launched in August 2023. We continue to work with the provider to develop the offer further with intra cultural workshops and support. 
  12. We commissioned an external specialist training company to deliver an actively anti-racist leadership development programme for our senior leaders and also a programme for our support services functions.  Cohort 1 for both programmes has now completed and cohort 2 commences in April 2024.
  13. The Patient Carer Race Equality Framework launched in July 2023 and work has been taken forward working with our patients and carers in our clinical areas.
  14. We have developed the plan for year 2 with the focus being on the core principles:
  • Support
  • Educate
  • Challenge.

This is an active message, and we will continue to provide resources for you to access to support your own exploration on becoming actively anti-racist.

We welcome and encourage you to explore your own reflections on this important agenda and see how you too can become actively anti-racist. See our additional information link for the slides presented at the launch event, a series of prompt questions to support your reflections and other resources.   

We are working with Nafsiyat Intercultural Therapy Centre to offer sessions 'let’s talk about race and racism: a culturally safe reflective space' to support to staff in the Trust.

Racialised trauma support.jpg

There are two types of support avaliable:

One to one sessions

Online, confidential, one to one intercultural therapy sessions for colleagues from racially minoritized groups and can be offered in a range of languages. The sessions are a safe place to share and explore your emotions, to explore difficult workplace interactions that feel like they stem from others’ perceptions of your culture or race and it is estimated that you will be seen between four to six weeks.

How to access

Staff who would like to access these sessions will need to complete the self referral form. Completed forms should be sent direct to referrals@nafsiyat.org.uk.

You do not need to copy anyone into the email, but you may need to speak to your line manager to support your time out of team duties.

If needed, a friend, team leader, or colleague can submit the referral for you, however, you must give consent for them to do this. 

All referrals will be triaged within one week and you will receive your first appointment within four weeks.  All communication will be sent to you directly from Nafsiyat. 

Group reflective practice sessions

Reflective sessions provide safe and confidential spaces for colleagues to process and reflect on work and organisational issues. In its simplest form, a reflective session is thinking about or reflecting on what you do. It is closely linked to the concept of learning from experience, in that you think about what you did and what happened and decide from that what you would do differently next time.

Participants will engage with facilitators and peers to explore shared issues, gain support, and work towards an equitable experience in their organisations. The reflective session enables us to understand ourselves better, our knowledge and understanding, our skills and competencies, and workplace practices in general.

These reflective sessions will be facilitated by Nafsiyat therapists and held online using the Microsoft Teams platform. Sessions are scheduled for the following dates and will either have theme to focus or will be facilitated as an open session. 

Sessions will last for 1 hour 15 minutes.

Find out more about these sessions on YourSpace.

Useful documents

Listen to Joe share his own reflections on racism and experiences of discrimination. Joe talks to the importance of personal and professional accountability; the need to reflect and consider ways in which we can be actively anti-racist every day.

“Lets put our shoulders behind this… and focus on what we need to do”

Listen to Amanda Oates reflect on what anti-racism means to her on a personal, professional, and organisational level.  Amanda expects all colleagues not to be racist but asks us to build on civility and respect, calling racism out in a supportive way through adopting a restorative, just and learning culture approach.

In this video our Medical Director Dr Noir Thomas discuss how we must actively make processes fairer to open opportunities for those affected by racism and discrimination. Dr Thomas also shares his reflections as a professional and as an individual.

In this film, Deputy Chief Executive, Trish Bennett discuss her behaviours and values as a leader, a team member and as a nurse when reflecting on our anti-racism perfect care goal.