By ADF Newsdesk –

Across the UK, nurses and midwives from African and wider diaspora backgrounds are a vital part of our health and care system.

From hospital wards to community clinics, their skills, compassion and resilience help keep families and communities safe every day.

Now, a newly refreshed national forum aims to better support these professionals and ensure their voices are heard at the highest levels.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has relaunched the Diaspora Registrant Associations Forum (DRAF), a strategic platform designed to strengthen support for nurses, midwives and nursing associates who have joined the UK workforce from around the world.

This move comes at a significant moment. More than 286,000 nurses, midwives and nursing associates on the UK register are Black, Asian or from minority ethnic backgrounds, around one third of the entire profession.

Many come from African countries or are part of long-established African and Caribbean communities in the UK.

Recognising contribution and confronting challenges

Diaspora nurses and midwives make an enormous contribution to the NHS and wider care services.

Yet, for many, working life is not without challenges. Experiences of racism, discrimination, cultural misunderstanding, and unequal treatment continue to affect career progression, wellbeing and retention.

The relaunched DRAF is intended to create a dedicated space where these realities can be openly discussed and where the NMC can listen, learn and act.

Tracey MacCormack, Chair of the Diaspora Registrant Associations Forum and Assistant Director for Midwifery at the NMC, highlighted why this matters: “The Register is becoming increasingly diverse.

“A third of nursing and midwifery professionals are now Black, Asian or minority ethnic, making it vital that we understand the experiences and challenges they face so we can better support them.”

She added that the refreshed forum strengthens collaboration with diaspora professionals and ensures they are actively involved in shaping the NMC’s strategic priorities.

A forum shaped by diaspora leadership

One of the forum’s strengths is its diverse membership.

DRAF brings together senior representatives from diaspora registrant associations across the UK, including chairs, senior nurse leaders, and professionals who already provide pastoral and wellbeing support within their communities.

Membership spans African, Caribbean, South Asian, East Asian, European, Middle Eastern, refugee and faith-based networks.

This wide representation helps ensure that the realities of internationally educated and diaspora professionals are not treated as a single story, but as many lived experiences.

Importantly, the forum will also contribute to the NMC’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy, helping to shape regulatory processes so they are fairer, more inclusive, and more responsive.

From conversation to change

The refreshed forum met for the first time in January, discussing key issues such as improvements to Fitness to Practise processes and reviews of the professional Code and revalidation system areas that can have a significant impact on diaspora professionals’ careers.

Forum members have welcomed the relaunch.

Herbert Mwebe, Director of the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Association UK, described DRAF as a vital space for honest dialogue: “DRAF provides us space to dialogue and have frank discussions with the NMC, and other diaspora groups, on the challenges impacting the professional development of internationally educated and diaspora nursing and midwifery professionals.”

Why this matters for our communities

For African and diaspora communities, this forum is about more than professional regulation. It is about visibility, dignity, and fairness.

When nurses and midwives are supported to thrive, patients receive safer, more culturally informed care. Communities benefit. Trust grows.

The NMC has made clear that DRAF remains open to working with a wide range of internationally educated and diaspora groups.

That openness offers an important opportunity for continued advocacy, collaboration and accountability.

As the UK health system continues to rely on the expertise of African and diaspora professionals, initiatives like DRAF are a reminder that progress happens when lived experience is placed at the centre, not the margins.