Melanin Medics
Charity no: 1188982
For the year 31 March 2021
CHARITABLE OBJECTIVE
The promotion of equality and diversity within healthcare for the public benefit by: (a) the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, disability , sexual orientation or religion; (b) advancing education and raising awareness in equality and diversity; (c) promoting activities to foster understanding between people from diverse backgrounds; (d) cultivating a sentiment in favour of equality and diversity.
OUR VISION AND MISSION
Our mission is to promote diversity in Medicine, widen aspirations and aid career progression through educational programmes, social empowerment, and valuable resources. Our vision is to create a future where diversity in Medicine thrives, and every person can fulfil their maximum potential irrespective of their race and socioeconomic background.
We are committed to ensuring that the medical workforce represents the diverse society that we live in. By promoting an environment in which diversity in medicine thrives, our current and future medical workforce can be their authentic selves in an environment that truly supports them and values their contributions, positively impacting patient care and medicine as a profession.
CHAIRPERSONS REPORT
This has been a pivotal year for Melanin Medics. With many disruptions, changes and sacrifices, this year birthed innovation. As we celebrated 3 years of our organisation, this year Melanin Medics garnered more support than ever before. With a world spotlight on racial inequality, we stood firmly in our mission to promote diversity in medicine, widen aspirations and aid career progression for Africans and Caribbeans in medicine.
This year, we were fully exposed to the state of the world we live in. For the first time, we have seen our world in colour. The intense pressures in which our healthcare system has been forced to endure. The damning reality of the pandemic and the tragedies that have followed. The unendurable manifestations of racial inequality in our society. Now, more than ever before, we have recognised the need for both change and togetherness.
This year we have learned that our work is imperative. We must continue to redefine what it means to be a Black African or Caribbean doctor and medical student in the United Kingdom. We must push to continually support individuals who have been negatively impacted by racial inequality in medicine. We must advocate for the medical profession to be a place where the black doctor and medical student can thrive without fear of discriminatory treatment.
We end this year stronger than we started. We are grateful to know that our position places us to impact many more people than we could have hoped. We have not done this alone and we know that we cannot continue to do it alone. We extend our heartfelt thanks to you all for your support.
TRUSTEES REPORT
The last year has been a momentous year for Melanin Medics. The COVID-19 pandemic transformed life as we know it and triggered a period of adaptation and innovation to meet the growing needs of those we serve.
In 2020, we transitioned to virtual events and saw an increase in our reach. We obtained our registered charity status and expanded our team of volunteers. We formally launched our equality and diversity workshops and have delivered several sessions to students in medical schools across the UK. Our social media reach more than doubled, we saw great growth in our Network members and launched our annual Black History Month essay competition. We also developed 2 new mentoring programmes and saw a great increase in funding through donations and successful grants.
The unprecedented impact of COVID-19 on medical education, Black African and Caribbean community groups and mental wellbeing of both medical students and doctors was of great concern. With the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on ethnic minority communities and the recognition of systemic racism on health inequalities, we believed that there was great need for BAME medical students and doctors to be supported during this time.
For many, the Black Lives Matter movement, which coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, triggered a flurry of negative emotions and previous experiences of racism that they had encountered on their medical journeys resurfaced. As an organisation committed to promoting diversity in Medicine, taking a clear stand against racial inequality during this time was paramount. Whilst this had been a core element of our organisational activities since our establishment, we were committed to extending this message to as wide an audience as possible.
We developed the Mind Us Project, a series of initiatives focused on supporting the mental wellbeing of Black African and Caribbean medical students and doctors. We were pleased to gain the support of the British Medical Association for this project. The project aimed to: (1) To support the mental wellbeing of Black African and Caribbean medical students and doctors who have been adversely affected by COVID-19. (2) To provide access to supportive therapy services to those who have been personally affected by COVID19. (3) To decrease the impact of COVID-19 on career progression by increasing the awareness of opportunities and activities for academic success. (4) To develop long-lasting professional relations and increase social support.
The Mind Us Enrichment Programme is a fully funded development programme designed to help final year medical students succeed. Participants are carefully matched with a mentor, receive guided information through educational career webinars and receive access to supportive therapy through the Wellbeing Fund.
Through the education component of the Mins Us project, we will be delivering a series of educational webinars and wellbeing webinars to help reduce career-related anxiety, support wellbeing and provide practical career guidance and support for medical students and doctors. Through the Mind Us Wellbeing Fund, we aimed to provide FREE culturally competent mental wellbeing support to medical students and doctors from a Black African or Caribbean background, including those of mixed-race heritage who have been adversely impacted by COVID-19. This consisted of a single online supportive therapy session.
We delivered 9 online events to more than 650 attendees, including doctors, medical students, and aspiring medics. Our online events included Linked in As A Medic, Medical Emergencies, Career Breaks, Medical School Insights, Mind Us Project Launch, Preparing for the Situational Judgement Test, The Prescribing Assessment Crash Course, Breaking into Medical Research and Managing anxiety.
We launched a 15-month programme designed for year 12 students of Black African and Caribbean heritage, including students of mixed-race heritage who aspire to study Medicine in the UK. At Melanin Medics, we have always supported our large network of over 300 aspiring medics in securing a place at Medical School since 2018. With our breadth of experience engaging with aspiring medics along with a success rate of 90% of helping students secure a place at medical school, we decided that we were well positioned to make an even bigger impact and launch the Envision Med Programme.
The Envision Med Programme was launched as a free pilot programme to specifically address the challenges that Black African and Caribbean students face when applying to Medical School. It has been designed to tackle three main barriers: (1) Low levels of ongoing support or mentoring for aspiring medical students applying to top institutions. (2) A lack of information and resources available about the range of options surrounding UK Medical Schools (3) A shortage of opportunities to interactively engage with the wider science and academic aspects of medicine. This pilot programme started with 25 Year 12 UK students, incorporating a combination of one-to-one mentoring sessions, super-curricular academic seminars, soft-skills training sessions, application guidance and support, events/workshops, and work experience. We are delighted that the programme is being supported by Lucy Cavendish College at the University of Cambridge and Medic Mind.
Research forms an essential component of medicine to understand present day realities and enable future advancements. We want to ensure that opportunities to participate in research are made available to all, irrespective of their race or background. To combat unequal access to research opportunities that presently exist, in 2021 we launched the Melanin Medics Research Network. The goal of this network is to improve research engagement and attainment amongst medical students and doctors of African and Caribbean heritage. Not only would this increase black representation in medical research, but it could also improve patient outcomes, including those from deprived populations and ethnic minorities. Through the Research Network, we will endeavour to facilitate collaborative studies, enable research participation for all, develop research skills for members through workshops and seminars as well as provide information on research opportunities, prizes and grants for members.
We held 8 equality, diversity, and inclusion workshops to more than 560 attendees, including doctors and medical students from diverse backgrounds. We believe African and Caribbean medics are most likely to thrive when their colleagues, employers and community understand their needs, and educational institutions know how to support them to help them thrive in higher education. We tackle this through our Equality and Diversity workshops on 'Allyship and Advocacy' to enable medical students and doctors to better understand and support colleagues and patients from diverse backgrounds. We deliver our workshops to UK medical schools, health organisations and NHS trusts. The charity also functions as a representative body liaising with key stakeholders such as the British Medical Association and General Medical Council to promote diversity in Medicine.
Throughout the year, we have had several engagements and worked with many different organisations. As one of our core missions is to promote diversity in Medicine, we recognise the importance of working and engaging with other groups to further our cause and bring to light the issues currently affecting our target demographic. The nature of our engagements greatly varied and included delivering a workshop at the 2020 BMA Junior Members Forum Conference. Melanin Medics was also featured in the British Medical Journal 'Racism in Medicine' special edition. Our Director of Programmes and Trustee, Khadija Owusu featured on Channel 5 News discussing discrimination in Medical Schools following the release of the BMA Racial harassment charter for medical schools which we contributed to as a stakeholder group. We also had a series of press engagement highlighting the impact of COVID-19 on black and ethnic minority healthcare workers and communities. Following the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, we contributed to a BIMA webinar focused on 'Racism in Medicine'. We were delighted to hold a HLA Live discussion focused on African and Caribbean Influences on the NHS in partnership with the Healthcare
Leadership Academy. Our team also participated on several panel discussions and as event speakers for a series of different events.
We would like to thank our individual donors as well as groups who chose to fundraise for our charity over the course of the year. Our heartfelt thanks to our volunteers, mentors, event speakers and supporters.
Melanin Medics will continue to keep those that we serve at the centre of all we do. We are increasingly driven to find more ways to amplify the work and voices of the incredible people we represent and support and give back to them through distribution of resources. We are very grateful for those who support our work, and we are set on ensuring that Melanin Medics is around for years to come.
Chairperson - Olamide Dada
1st November 2021
Charity no: 1188982
Melanin Medics CIO FOUNDATION
Annual Report and Accounts
For the year 31 March 2021
Prepared by DTT Consultancy Ltd
Melanin Medics
| Contents | Page |
|---|---|
| Company Information | 1 |
| Statement of Financial Activities | 2 |
| Balance Sheet | 3 |
| Notes to the Accounts | 4-5 |
Melanin Medics
Company Information
Trustees
Olamide Dada Chair person Khadija Owusu Trustee Nadia Ibrahim Trustee
Registered office
Arundel House 66-80 Arundel Road Unit 5-6 Luton
Registered number
1188982
Accountants
DTT Consultancy Ltd 36 Daffodil Close Hatfield AL10 9FF
Page 1 of 5
Melanin Medics
Statement of Financial Activities
For the year ended 31 March 2021
| Notes Incoming Resources Grant 5.1 Donation Workshop Total incoming resources Resources Expended Services Provision 5.2 Management and administration 5.3 Total resources expended Net incoming/(outgoing) resources Net Movements in Funds Fund balances brought forward Fund balances carried forward |
Unrestricted £ 22,000 5,404 850 |
Restricted £ - - |
2021 Total Funds £ 22,000 5,404 850 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28,254 | - | 28,254 | |
| 7,122 766 |
- - |
7,122 766 |
|
| 7,889 | - | 7,889 | |
| 20,365 | - | 20,365 | |
| 20,365 319 |
- - |
20,365 319 |
|
| 20,685 | - | 20,685 |
Page 2 of 5
Melanin Medics
Balance Sheet as at 31st March 2021
| Notes Fixed Assets Tangible assets Current Assets Cash at bank and in hand Total Assets Creditors Amounts falling due within one year 2 Net Current Assets/(Liabilities) Total Assets less Current Liabilities Unrestricted Funds Funds b/fwd Income and Expenditure Total Funds 3 Olamide Dada |
2021 Total Funds £ - 20,935 |
|---|---|
| 20,935 | |
| (250) 20,685 |
|
| 20,685 | |
| - 20,685 |
|
| 20,685 | |
| - |
Approved by the board virtually on 13th October 2021
Page 3 of 5
Melanin Medics
Notes to the Accounts
For the year ended 31 March 2021
1. Accounting Policies
Basis of preparation
The Financial Statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Accounting Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2005), issued in March 2005, UK Accounting Standards and the Charities Act 2011.
Incoming Resources
Incoming resources represents the value, net of value added tax and discounts, of goods provided to customers and work carried out in respect of services provided to customers.
Resources Expended
Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
Depreciation
Depreciation has been provided at the following rates in order to write off the assets over their estimated useful lives.
| Plant and machinery | 20% straight line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Motor vehicles | 25% straight line | ||
| 2. Creditors: amounts failing due within one year | |||
| 2021 | |||
| £ | |||
| Trade creditors | 250 | ||
| 3. Profit and loss account | |||
| 2021 | |||
| £ | |||
| At 1 April 2020 | 319 | ||
| Prior year adjustments | - | ||
| At 31 March 2021 | 20,685 | ||
| Profit for the year | 20,365 | ||
| Restricted Funds | Unrestricted | Restricted | 2021 |
| £ | |||
| At 1 April 2020 | - | - | - |
| Net Incoming Funds | - | 20,685 | 20,685 |
| At 31 March 2021 | - | 20,685 | 20,685 |
4. Trustees' Remuneration and Benefits
There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 March 2021.
Trustees' Expenses
There were no trustees' expenses paid neither for the year ended 31 March 2021.
Page 4 of 5
Melanin Medics
Notes to the accounts - continued
For the year ended 31 March 2021
5 Income and Expenditure Account
| 5.1 Incoming Resources Grant Donation Workshop Total Incoming Resources Outgoing Resources 5.2 Services Provision Online Application Support System Online Mentoring System Psychological Therapy Sessions 5.3 Management and Administration of Charity Accounting Software Video Conferencing Website Accountancy Fees Charity |
2021 Unrestricted Restricted Total Fund £ £ £ 22,000 - 22,000 5,404 5,404 850 850 |
|---|---|
| 28,254 - 28,254 |
|
| 135 - 135 1,377 - 1,377 5,610 - 5,610 |
|
| 7,122 - 7,122 |
|
| 6 - 6 56 - 56 91 - 91 163 - 163 250 - 250 200 - 200 |
|
| 766 - 766 |
Page 5 of 5