About this Event
Black History Month may end in October. The work cannot.
Every October, we create more space to talk about race, representation and belonging. Powerful voices are amplified. The statistics are shared. The commitments are renewed.
Then the calendar moves on, but for many people living these experiences, challenges don't end when October does.
Across health and social care, we already have the evidence. We know that Black, Asian and ethnically diverse professionals continue to experience discrimination, unequal access to progression and disproportionate entry into formal workplace processes.
The problem is no longer invisible.
Yet one question is still too often left unanswered:
What happens after someone finds the courage to speak?
What happens when you do not know whether to approach HR, your union, a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian or a legal professional?
What happens after that first conversation, when you still have meetings to attend, decisions to make and a career and wellbeing to protect?
Too often, the individual is left to understand the policy, choose the correct route, explain the cultural context, gather the evidence and carry the emotional weight, all while continuing to do their job.
Speaking up is not the end of the journey.
It is often the beginning of the hardest part.
That is the gap EDI Connect was created to address.
On Saturday, 21 November 2026, we invite you to join us at King’s House, Bedfordshire, for the official pre-launch of the EDI Connect Digital Workforce Platform.
EDI Connect was not created from the outside looking in. It has been shaped by health and social care professionals with decades of experience across the NHS, private and social care, many with their own lived understanding of race, culture, belonging and workplace inequality.
We have seen the data. We have witnessed what happens behind it. We decided that we wanted to become part of the solution.
EDI Connect exists to close the intervention gap between policy and person by bringing confidential, culturally informed support closer to Black, Asian and ethnically diverse professionals.
More than somewhere to speak
EDI Connect is not simply a one-to-one support service or another place to record a concern.
It is a membership-based digital workforce platform designed to support the journey before, during and after someone raises their voice.
Members will be able to access trusted resources when they need them, understand their options and connect with professional support around discrimination, workplace conflict, disciplinary concerns, professional referrals, progression barriers and other challenges affecting their working lives.
The aim is simple: to help people receive support earlier, before uncertainty becomes isolation, misunderstanding becomes conflict, or a workplace concern begins to damage someone’s wellbeing and career.
For organisations, EDI Connect creates an opportunity to move beyond counting concerns after harm has occurred. Through anonymised workforce insight, the platform is designed to help leaders recognise repeated themes, understand where intervention is needed and focus on the outcomes that matter: resolution, trust, wellbeing, progression and retention.
Because the greatest workforce cost is not only the vacancy an organisation cannot fill.
It is the skilled professional it has already recruited but is slowly losing.
This evening is about what happens next
The EDI Connect pre-launch will bring together influential voices from health, social care, workforce equality, leadership and community change.
There will be important conversations, but the evening will not stop at conversation.
You can expect:
- influential speakers and change-makers driving progress across health and social care;
- honest conversations about race, culture, progression and workplace experience;
- the first presentation of the EDI Connect Digital Workforce Platform;
- an introduction to the resources, guidance and professional support available through membership;
- the opportunity to become an EDI Connect Founding Member;
- connections with leaders, professionals, partners and advocates committed to practical change;
- food, entertainment and a celebration of the people helping move this work forward.
The full programme and speaker announcements will follow.
Who should be in the room?
This evening is for people who are ready to move beyond repeatedly describing the problem and become part of building the response.
We welcome:
- NHS, private healthcare and social care professionals;
- Black, Asian and ethnically diverse workforce members;
- senior leaders and People and Culture teams;
- EDI, WRES and organisational development leads;
- Freedom to Speak Up Guardians and trade union representatives;
- clinicians, coaches, mediators, investigators and employment specialists;
- universities, researchers and professional bodies;
- community leaders, advocates, partners and organisations committed to fairer workplaces.
Whether you bring lived experience, professional expertise, organisational influence or a genuine commitment to change, there is a place for you in this room.
Why now?
Healthcare is already diverse.
Now it is time to make equality and inclusion real.
That will take more than another survey, report or annual conversation. It requires earlier support, clearer routes forward and organisations prepared to act before concerns become costly disputes and experienced people walk away.
EDI Connect is not here simply to ask people to speak- we are here to help people understand what is happening, access the right support and navigate what comes next.
Because workforce safety cannot be separated from patient safety.
Event details
Date: Saturday, 21 November 2026
Venue: King’s House, Bedfordshire
Dress: Smart evening attire
Food and entertainment: Included
Speakers: To be announced
Join us as we move from measuring the gap to building the support that has been missing inside it.
Reserve your place. Share your voice. Become part of what happens next.
Event venue & nearby stays
King's House Bedford, 245 Ampthill Road, Bedford, United Kingdom
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.