'Migrant status adds to inequality for ethnic minority NHS workers'

ETHNIC minority healthcare workers born overseas face a double disadvantage due to the combined effects of ethnicity and migrant status, according to research by city experts.

- By STAFF REPORTER

In particular, Asian and black healthcare workers born overseas were less likely to reach higher pay bands compared to their white UK-born and trained counterparts.

The first analysis to explore how migration status - often overlooked in Human Resources records - intersects with ethnicity to affect NHS career progression has been carried out using data from the nationwide UK-Reach cohort study.

The cross-sectional study of more than 5,700 healthcare workers employed under the NHS Agenda for Change (AfC) pay scale - which covers staff including nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals - found that overseas-born staff were significantly less likely to be placed in higher AfC pay bands, even after adjusting for education, job role, and years of professional qualification.