Patrick Vernon

Wolverhampton-born racial equality champion and health leader named on list of 50 most influential Black, Asian and minority ethnic people in health

Professor Patrick Vernon OBE was named on the list alongside high profile members such as Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Kiran Patel from University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust.

The 64-year-old has been working as engagement ambassador for NHS Birmingham and Solihull NHS Integrated Care Board (BSol ICB), having previously served as the ICB’s Chair from January 2023 to October this year.

He was the first Non-Executive Director for Inequalities to be appointed to an ICB in the country, while he currently is Chair of the Walsall Together Partnership Board working to create happier partnership working in the locality. He is a former non-executive director of Hertfordshire Partnership University FT, Camden and Islington FT and Healthwatch England.

He was born in Wolverhampton and has played an active part in civic life there, including pushing for a blue plaque for immigrant rights activist Paulette Wilson, which was eventually erected on the Wolverhampton Heritage Centre, the former constituency office of Enoch Powell.

He said the selection into the top 50 was a great honour and an acknowledgement of the work he had been doing and said he hoped he could inspire the next generation. He said: “It’s great to acknowledge what I’ve been doing for the last 20 to 30 years around health, wellbeing, healthcare, tacking racial disparities in mental health, public health and playing a key part as a senior leader.

“It sounds great to be recognised , but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done around leadership as there’s not enough people of colour working at senior level, particularly exec and non-exec level in the NHS.

“I hope I can inspire the next generation of leaders and I’m hoping to go back to my old school Colton Hills to meet pupils and hopefully inspire them as well, so it’s all about coming from the Black Country and having that recognition.”

Mr Vernon said that while there were still challenges for people of colour to achieve leadership roles in areas like healthcare,  he felt that it was important for people to be able to know that they can achieve anything.

He said: “I’ve been successful with a number of campaigns and I’ve had a number of senior leadership roles in the NHS, Department of Health and other charities, so I’ve had leadership roles.

“However, it is difficult to get there because of issues around discrimination and racism which are still there, but that’s why I think this list is so important as it lets people know that you can achieve anything.

“You can’t get through the glass ceiling, but it is always movable and there are people like myself and others who are being recognised and are using our influence in different ways.

“Most importantly, the work never stops and it makes no difference to me if I’m on the list or not as I’m still forging ahead and try to shine a light and work with organisations and individuals to improve the wellbeing of everyone, but particularly how it has a disproportionate impact on particular communities as well.”

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