This October’s Black History Month has allowed us to focus on the incredible contribution black women have made throughout global history. The year’s theme of ‘Saluting our Sisters’ has inspired us to research women who have made a particular impact on us and we’ve displayed posters online and on doors around the Hospice, for everybody to learn from.

We began the month by sharing a powerful film with colleagues, ‘Palliative Care: Shifting the Focus from equality to equity’, which was produced by King’s College, London: ‘Research has shown that those from ethnically diverse groups may not receive the care they need and that treating all patients equally, may result in inequity of outcomes.’

Earlier in the month, our Catering team created a delicious Caribbean-themed lunchtime menu and we have put together a Black History Resource Centre on our intranet, crammed with fantastic podcasts, articles, film and book recommendations, and plenty more. At the end of the month, we will be welcoming a steel pan group to the Hospice and a speaker, who will present a talk, entitled: ‘Redefining Narratives – Celebrating the History of Black Leadership.’

We have also looked inwards, asked difficult questions and challenged ourselves as an organisation. We asked all staff to complete an internal discrimination survey and have begun sharing the results with colleagues. We are working to address the areas of improvement that need to be made and are planning to share the survey with our volunteers next year.

We hope the activities and initiatives we have shared throughout the month have inspired, educated and, in some cases, entertained, everybody. They are just a small part of our ongoing work to make sure we are an inclusive, welcoming environment where everybody feels they belong at Princess Alice Hospice.