Private hospital chain Practice Plus Group has appointed Sheree-Leigh Woodall to the newly created role of head of equity, diversity and inclusion.

Woodall is an experienced clinician who spent much of her career working in hospitals in the West Midlands before joining Practice Plus Group 2016 as a team leader at HMP Oakwood working at the company’s part-owned Health in Justice division as a prison nurse managing a team of five and providing primary care services to more than 2,000 prisoners.

In 2021, Woodall was seconded as deputy head of healthcare, before being appointed business development manager, Health for Justice. Since 2020, she has been part of the company’s EDI steering committee.

Lee Gage, group general counsel and company secretary of Practice Plus Group, said: “With her passion, knowledge and advocacy of our ED&I strategies, Sheree-Leigh will be an inspiring role model and ambassador for change, helping to foster an environment of collaboration, compassion and support to ensure our workforce and patient services are equally accessible and inclusive for everyone.”

Woodall said: “For me this is a dream job, and to be in a lead role in this field has surpassed my expectations. Since 2019, as well as my day-job, I have been working in the background supporting ED&I initiatives at work and in my personal life too. Having been a clinician, I can see how improving diversity of the workforce improves patient outcomes and patient care. I aim to bring authenticity and my own lived experience to the role to help get buy-in from teams by demonstrating how we can make a cultural shift together.

“I plan to work on some of the existing frameworks in place at both the NHS and Practice Plus Group to build a culture where people can feel confident and want to help remove any conscious or unconscious bias in the workplace that impact on a people’s development. I want to encourage people to speak up – so removing fear is crucial. The only way we’re going to drive an inclusive cultural is by giving people the tools they need and providing them with the opportunity to speak out in a psychological safe space and give them the support to do so.”