A LONG serving physiotherapist has been elected chair of Bolton Hospital’s BAME staff forum.

Ilyas Adam spent a year as deputy chair and will succeed Rebena Khan in the role.

Ilyas joined the NHS in 1992, beginning his career in pharmacy and moving to the Wigan and Bolton Health Authority before studying degrees in public health and then physiotherapy.

He now works as a  specialist community physiotherapist in the community therapy team.

Ilyas said: “ I’ve had a varied career in the NHS, where I have done two degrees working full-time, balancing a family, which can be quite difficult and I feel the same opportunities should be available for everybody in our great NHS.

“I am passionate about raising awareness of equality and diversity issues, making the workforce more inclusive and more responsive to the communities that we serve.”

Ilyas aims to encourage as many staff members as possible the opportunity to attend meetings and help make a difference.

He said: “The BAME staff forum was launched just over a year ago and the good thing is that the senior management attend the meetings and they are quite proactive in helping to shape the future of the forum.

“The forum is still in its infancy and we have embarked on a journey and I feel we have laid strong foundations now and we have still got a long way to go, but the main thing is we are travelling in the right direction”

Ilyas has a number of projects and initiatives in the pipeline and will be working with his forum members on Black History Month, which runs through October.