BINA (British Indian Nurses Association) held its highly popular annual conference in Leicester on 29 November 2024. The conference began with the traditional lamp-lighting ceremony, a beautiful symbol of knowledge and dedication to nursing. Dr Ramesh Mehta (President, BAPIO) congratulated BINA for their rapid growth, serving the Indian nursing community. BINA Founder and Chair, Marimouttou Coumarassamy opened the conference and spoke about how we can support one another to excel and serve with kindness and compassion. He focused on three key areas – support (introduced a special indemnity scheme for nurses in partnership with Medical Defence Shield), recognition (BINA Global Awards) and development (BINA senior nurses network) to help the Indian nursing community.
Following this, Bethan Davies (Managing Director, Bravest Path) delivered an interactive session on holding brave conversations to improve safety in the NHS, self-compassion and speaking up, emphasising the message “Clear is Kind”. This was followed by a keynote address from Clare Teeney (Chief People Officer, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust) who stated that equity in healthcare starts with equity in workforce.
The delegates watched powerful video messages from Duncan Burton, Chief Nursing Officer (England) & Maria McIlgorm, Chief Nursing Officer (Northern Ireland) followed by a CNO panel on tackling health & workforce inequalities. The CNO panel discussion on “How do we break the rules to do better together?” included Heather Caudle (CNO, Northern Care Alliance), Karen Bonner (Chief Nurse for London), Jenny Kirkland(CNO, Elsyium Healthcare) and Jay Dungeni (CNO, Ashford & St. Peter’s Hospital). The discussion was chaired by Dr. JS Bamrah (Consultant Psychiatrist, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust) and Patrick Nyarumbu (Deputy CEO, Birmingham and Solihill Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust).
The conference was grateful to the support from the sponsors including University Hospitals Leicester, Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust, Ebek, Unison, Apollo Education UK, NHS Professionals, Multicultural marketing and Medical Defence Shield (MDS). During the conference, Sarah Dodds, Head of Legal at MDS, announced the new MDS indemnity plan to support nurses. This support is special as MDS is focused on providing more culturally appropriate, cost effective and person-centred help for nurses.
Later in the day, there was a riveting CEO panel discussion with Roisin Fallon-Williams (CEO, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust), Richard Mitchell (CEO, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust) and Danny Mortimer(CEO, NHS Employers) which was chaired by Dr. Geeta Menon (National Dean for Inclusive Integrated Careers, NHS England) and Dr.Habib Naqvi (CEO, NHS Race & Health Observatory). The panellists and chairs spoke at length about tackling health and workforce inequalities: strategies, culture, commitment and system leadership.
The International Diaspora panel was chaired by Manny Ganaraj (Deputy Chief Nurse, Black Country Partnership Foundation Trust) & Reema D’Souza (Associate Chief Nurse, Buckingham Healthcare NHS Trust). The speakers included Sally Nyinza (President, Kenya Nurses & Midwives Association), Dennis Singson (Deputy Chair, Philippines Nurses Association UK) and Elizabeth Pearson (Director, Uganda Nurses and Midwives Association) . All the speakers stressed the importance of working in connection, collaboration and partnership to uplift our communities.
The conference also saw the debut of the BINA Global Awards which celebrate the contributions of >63,000 Indian nurses in the UK. Suresh Packiam, Gen Secretary BINA, led the award ceremony and said that ‘Today we created history by launching BINA global awards to honour our exceptional talents in our community. This is the first awards of its kind and hoping many more to come’
The following awards were awarded on the night
– Unsung Hero Award winner- Jennifer Saravanan, Queen Elizabeth NHS Foundation Trust
– Rising Star of the Year- Pearl Cruz, University Hospital Birmingham
– EDI Champion of the year- Minija Joseph, King’s College Hospital NHSFT
– Excellence in Leadership award -Ravinder Dosanjh, Howell DDA Health Board, Wales
– Student of the year- Amersham Karthikeyan, Manchester University NHSFT
– Research, Innovation and improvement award -Kumar Ponnusamy, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
– Nurse of the year- Susy Pramod, The Christie NHS Foundation
This milestone event reflects BINA’s commitment to empowering and uplifting the incredible Indian nursing community in the UK. BAPIO would like to thank and congratulate the inspiring speakers, passionate delegates, and the incredible BINA team who made this event a grand success.
