SHE was a familiar face on television at the height of the pandemic, standing alongside the prime minister, senior Cabinet ministers or NHS leaders as they sought to inform and assure Britons about the government’s efforts to tackle Covid-19.
As NHS England’s first female medical director of primary care, Dr Nikita (Nikki) Kanani MBE was at the frontline of the UK’s fight against Covid-19 and supervised the country’s successful, fast and life-saving vaccine programme.
Kanani is now the director of clinical integration at NHS England and is still working with the Covid vaccination team.
“It (pandemic) was the darkest time ever,” she recalled. “What I have taken away from it is importance of people - family, friends, community and especially work colleagues and also people's ability to look after each other.”
Kanani was in charge of the NHS primary care response to Covid-19 – including implementing the standard operating procedure. Known for her clinical and operational leadership prior to the pandemic and as medical director for primary care, she was given a higher profile during the pandemic. She appeared at multiple Downing Street briefings on Covid-19 standing next to then prime minister Boris Johnson.
She told GG2 Power List, “We had to come together and work in a way that was intense; 18-20 hours a day and that too, day after day for months on end.
“Then we delivered the vaccine programme, as well.”
As we emerge from the pandemic, the NHS remains under pressure in the face of growing waiting lists of patients and strike action over pay by medical staff.
Kanani said, “It is going to be a very difficult time for us trying to move past the pandemic and all of the pressures that it caused. I can understand how challenging it feels for our teams and our workforce.
“However, it is really important to remember here is that NHS is here for you.”
Reflecting on the past 12 months, Kanani said 2022 was a “big and complicated year”.
“People are getting really tired. Everyone has worked so hard for so long, in the NHS as well as across public sector roles; they just kept going and going.
“We are still feeling the pressure very much. But I've been incredibly inspired by our workforce and our teams who have kept going, despite really challenging times.”
In July this year, the NHS will 75 years since it was founded and Kanani said no matter a person’s background in this country, the fact that access to health care is free of charge is the biggest achievement of NHS.
“It is the most precious institution we have. Our strengths and achievements are probably too many to list. But offering a health service that's free at the point of care for everyone in this country is an achievement in itself,” she told GG2 Power List.
“We are also able to come up with pioneering medicines, incredible vaccines, treatments and experimental surgeries at the same time.
“Over the next decade, things will change very much. We are moving to more digital NHS,” she said.
Kanani spoke of her pride of being an Asian doctor in the NHS.
“What amazes me is that people have come from all sorts of different backgrounds and communities across India and the subcontinent. And they have worked in incredible ways to support and pioneer their work in the NHS.
“We are a very big part of what the NHS has been, but also what the NHS will be in the future,” she said.
Kanani’s father arrived in the UK from Uganda as a refugee in 1972.
Her parents set up a community pharmacy in Croydon, south London and Kanani said as a baby she would be asleep in a wire basket on the side of the till as her parents worked all hours.
“Over the years, they built this amazing relationship with the community.
“When they retired last year, I was there with them. Many people remembered me as the ‘baby at the till’, which shows this amazing bond with the community, spanning decades.
“Seeing such a relationship in my growing years is what inspired me to do medicine, because I wanted that relationship as well with the community,” Kanani said.
She did bachelor’s in neuroscience in 2001, followed by an MBBS in 2004. Kanani graduated from King's College London with a postgraduate certificate in managing in health and social care in 2008 and from the University of Birmingham with an MSc in healthcare commissioning in 2014.
In recognition of her services to primary care, Kanani was honoured with an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 2017.
As a mother of two boys (aged 14 and 11), Kanani said finding a work-life balance has been challenging.
“No two days are the same. I really enjoy having quite a range of different things in my day. But when we talk about a work life balance, I don't think it's a balance; it's chaos,” she admitted.
“I try to protect things that are really important. I make sure I’m there for my sons and their activities. We play board games, watch a movie or simply sit together for important family time,” she added.
In her view, society has high expectations from women, particularly Asian females.
"I'm often asked by family members why I work so hard - something they wouldn’t ask my husband.
“We are working as if we don't have children, and we're raising children, like we don't work. So, we're doing two full time jobs and also trying to break glass ceilings at the same time.
"Since I am representing Asian women, I want to excel in my workplace in ways that I create a ladder for others too to come forward and take on roles, like the ones I have.
“But I also want to be a really good mother; it will remain a constant juggling act!”
Being a brown woman at the top management level in NHS, Kanani revealed she is sometimes “treated differently”.
“It leads to imposter syndrome, which makes you feel like you're not worthy and shouldn't be there where you are.
“For me, it's been important to work on my confidence and on the fact that I bring a unique perspective to what I do. That gives me immense confidence to be my authentic self,” she told GG2 Power List.
Kanani explained why it was important to have fair representation in the NHS so that it provides “opportunities to other people to come to the decision making table and lead and inspire in different ways”.
She quoted from Canadian poet Rupi Kaur: “For all the tables that refuse to seat us, we'll build new tables, and pull up a seat for everyone who arrives after us”.
