Operating equal opportunities in the Health Service

The British National Health Service (NHS) is undertaking equal opportunities initiatives to improve the working conditions of the large numbers of women and ethnic minority staff in its employ. The reorganization of the NHS as a purchaser/provider with increasingly independent management units has highlighted the need to emphasize equal opportunities programs to ensure that this crucial issue is not sidelined in the realignment of service contracts between purchaser and provider districts. Two key players, Minister of Health Virginia Bottomley and the Equal Opportunities Commission, have taken the lead in the initiative for the advancement of women and minorities in the NHS. Both stress the need for urgent management-led action in such programs.