Shuri Network

Shuri Network is an Award-winning network for BAME women in digital health in the NHS & care including CIOs, CCIOs & aspiring leaders.

The NHS 10-year plan states that “the NHS draws on a remarkably rich diversity of people to provide care to our patients. But we fall short in valuing their contributions and ensuring fair treatment and respect.”

20% of the NHS workforce is BAME and 77% are women. We all use technology daily to care for patients, and this has become even more crucial during the Covid19 crisis. However, there are less than 20 women of colour in senior digital leadership roles across 233 trusts. We are helping the NHS develop a leadership pipeline that more closely reflects our workforce – something Simon Stevens has also pledged to do.

We now have over 1000 members from all backgrounds including underrepresented groups in digital leadership such as nurses, social workers and AHPs. Organisations including trusts and NHSX have sought our advice on recruitment in order to improve equality. We provide women of colour with a voice and a platform to progress into leadership roles.

Shuri Network was founded by Dr Shera Chok and Sarah Amani in 2019. We were Chief Clinical Information Officers and realised that over the last decade there have only been a handful of women of colour in similar roles. As diverse teams are more creative, productive, attract the most talented people and are associated with better patient experience, we decided to change the balance. In this short video, Dr Ijeoma Azodo, one of our members talks about the Network and what we want to achieve: https://himsstv.brightcovegallery.com/detail/videos/hett/video/6114329022001/new-network-seeks-to-promote-diversity-in-digital-health?autoStart=true