Global Engagement and Cultural Competence in the NHS Workforce

Ackers, Louise; Horder, Clare

Abstract

The report opens with an Introduction (Section 1). Section 1 describes the Study Objectives and Methods and outlines the context within which the Review was commissioned. This captures the workforce challenges currently in the National Health Service (NHS) that the Review is responding to.

It identifies the relevance of a discussion about cultural competence to workforce transformation and the ways the term ‘culture’ has permeated two rather different aspects of this debate. In the first instance ‘culture-as-ethnicity’ frequently emerges in discussions around the relevance of the NHS and its sensitivities to fast-changing population dynamics and associated health care needs.

In the second, a broader concern with ‘culture-as-organisation’ emerges as a barrier to (and enabler of) change and workforce retention. Exposing the rather different (but inter-linked) dynamics in these 2 different approaches sets the scene for a discussion about the role of global health engagement in workforce transformation.

• Report Type: Research Report
• Acceptance Date: Sep 30, 2024
• Deposit Date: May 27, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: May 27, 2025