The RCP has responded to the latest NHS Medical Workforce Race Equality Standard (MWRES) report.
The MWRES’s latest report makes a recommendation to Royal Colleges on increasing the representation of people who are Black, Asian or from an ethnic minority within our councils to reflect the broad church of our memberships.
Last year, the RCP published data about the diversity of our council members, which showed that BME people are still underrepresented. This is not a surprise - our own census tells us that only 2% of consultants are black or black British, compared to around 3.5% of the UK population – but it is an ongoing source of concern.
As a result, we have taken various actions to increase the diversity of our members and fellows who are involved in our work as representatives and volunteers, including encouraging all our members - and all physicians - to consider becoming a Social Mobility Foundation (SMF) mentor as part of its Aspiring Professionals Programme. We have also helped to promote In2MedSchool, founded by RCP member Dr Brian Wang, which also provides mentor opportunities.
Mentorship programmes such as these are key to widening participation in medicine because the more diverse applicants we get, the more diverse our senior leadership will eventually be.