We the undersigned are appalled by the racist and misogynist remarks made by Frank Hester, CEO and owner of TPP. As an industry, we unequivocally and categorically condemn these words. Racism, misogyny and other forms of discrimination have no place within the digital health and care community. It is not sufficient to be neutral against bigotry. We must all stand up and be counted. We call for strong leadership to stamp out discrimination. We commit to coming together as individuals and organisations to develop an equity charter, which incorporates standards of behaviour that we hold ourselves and each other to.

This statement was created by Ayesha Rahim (NHS doctor) Victoria Betton (PeopleDotCom Ltd) and Hassan Chaudhury, who holds many roles in the digital health sector. We wrote it together whilst at Rewired conference and as a fast response to events.

It was the evening before the opening day of Rewired, the biggest digital health conference in England.

A digital health community WhatsApp group started pinging with indignation as members shared a troubling Guardian article. It reported the owner of one of the biggest digital health companies in England, making vile comments about Diane Abbot, the first black woman elected to parliament and the longest-serving black MP.

The next day of the conference saw Ayesha and Victoria huddled together in a corner of the Rewired speaker’s lounge, putting together a form of words.

It was at this point that Hassan joined the conversation, suggesting that we might bring people together to create an Equity charter. This would not only be a set of principles, but also a set of levers* we can use to hold ourselves and others to account. By the end of the day, we had an open letter and a live survey for people to submit their signature. Rewired, CEO Jon, read out the statement at the final session and reported it in his ebulletin. That’s when things began to take off.