Officially established in 2005, the seeds of WEDHS were sown in 2002, when hampered by a lack of reliable information and statistics on the BME population, and unable to get in touch with other professionals working in this area, Dr Roiyah Saltus set up the BME-Wales-health-social-care e-mail group to find a way forward through collaborative working.

As people started to get connected, it became clear that a complete and formal review of research and development in this area was essential. Despite the concerted efforts of the e-groups' small, but growing membership, progress was hindered by a lack of funding and resources.

In 2005, the solution came in the form of a funding opportunity issued by the Wales Office for Research and Development in Health and Social Care (WORD) designed "to enable groups and organisations to review the state of research and development in their areas of interest, build networks, and formulate plans for improving the quantity and quality of research and development activity in Wales."

With a great deal of support from the voluntary and primary care sectors; social services; specialist health centres (i.e., Cardiff Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Centre and AWETU) and leading health organisations, the study served to identify the key problem areas holding back research, and therefore, development.

The findings proved invaluable and WEDHS was established thanks to further funding from WORD. WEDHS, as a centralised network of resources and activity, providing good practice guidance, support and opportunities for joined-up working (for BME people as well as those working with, or for, them), has been funded to ensure a more structured and methodological coordinated approach to research and research support development; one firmly rooted in equality and diversity.