Warren hosting events to encourage young people of BAME heritage to pursue careers in physiotherapy
A member of #TeamUHDB’s Physiotherapy Team is hosting a series of focus groups to encourage more young people of a Black, Asian, minority ethnic (BAME) heritage to pursue a career in the profession.
Warren Caffrey, a Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist based at Florence Nightingale Community Hospital, will be hosting sessions aimed at 16 – 18-year-olds in Derby to find out if there are potential barriers for people of a BAME heritage to get into the profession and what can be done to help them develop in the field. As an active member of UHDB’s BAME Network, Warren also regularly engages in discussion to improve representation throughout a variety of professions at the Trust and has been championing his profession over the past four years.
Warren said: “As part of my secondment with UHDB and alongside Joined Up Careers Derbyshire, I'm supporting career events in Derbyshire, but I specifically want to target people who identify as BAME and investigate why there is an underrepresentation of people who choose to study Physiotherapy.
“Despite Derby having a large BAME population, people who identify as BAME within Physiotherapy are heavily underrepresented. As representation matters, it’s important for me to try to find out why this is and what the perception of the profession is in these communities.”
The sessions, which have been funded by Derby and Burton Hospitals Charity, will be taking place at the Derby West Indian Community Association on Carrington Street on, Tuesday 19 April (1pm - 2pm, 2pm - 3pm and 3pm - 4pm) and each session will last for around 45 minutes.
Warren is urging anyone who is potentially interested in becoming a Physiotherapist who identifies as BAME to attend to find out more:
“I really want to find out what the views of younger people are, in relation to Physiotherapy and just try to get a better understanding as to why we are seeing underrepresentation of people of a BAME heritage in Physiotherapy. As well as this being a chance for me to learn from the participants, it’s also a chance for them to find out more from myself based on my experiences.
“If you’re not sure where to start, or don’t know what training and qualifications you need, please come along and I will do all I can to help.”
Sessions will be limited to eight participants. To find out more and to book your place, please contact: Warren.Caffrey@nhs.net.