In order to meet the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) under the Equality Act 2010, we have developed our equality objectives by:
- Eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010;
- Advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not share it;
- Fostering good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not share it.
Our objectives have been developed with input from a wide group of stakeholders that include our patients, staff, staff partners, local interests, governors, members and local interest groups. We also use published information gathered for the Annual Equality Report and for the Workforce Race Equality Standard to inform our objectives. The sources of information will increase in line with the introduction of new standards and national requirements. We also seek views on our equality objectives by way of publishing them on our website and will review them regularly.
We have adopted the NHS Equality Delivery System 2 (EDS2), a national framework, to help us comply with the Equality Act. The main goals of the EDS are:
- Better health outcomes
- Improved patient access and experience
- A representative and supported workforce
- Inclusive leadership
Our original equality objectives focused on:
- improving the capture of patient data by protected characteristic so that these data could inform our priorities – although much progress has been made in this area, there is still further work required to improve the capture of patient data for some protected characteristics
- asking people from different groups what they think of our services and using existing sources of data to improve patient care – the progress made in this area is reflected in our Annual Equality Report
- improving the working environment of staff with dyslexia – we now have a robust in-house system for identifying and supporting staff with dyslexia managed by our Staff Psychology and Welfare Department
- adopting the ‘Competency Framework for Equality and Diversity Leadership’ by embedding the framework into our existing processes and systems
- implementing the NHS Equality Delivery System (EDS) to improve the Trust’s equality performance and further strengthen the relationships with our local interests – the EDS has now been replaced by the EDS2 and work is ongoing in this area.
Our equality objectives cover the period November 2017 to March 2021, building on those published in 2014 and key work undertaken since then. The five objectives are:
- Accessible information and communication with patients
- Ensuring we have metrics to support this objective
- Recording of multiple disabilities so that appropriate support is provided
- Vulnerable patients (safeguarding)
- Evaluating progress towards this through EDS2
Links to annual objective “Provide the highest quality care within our resources”
New themes: The balance between being a specialist hospital and delivering great care to our local population.
- Equitable career progression for all staff groups and for staff of all protected characteristics
- Talent management which is fair and inclusive
- Monitoring staff experience
- Fair recruitment processes
- Evaluating progress towards this through the staff survey, EDS2 and national standards
Links to annual objective “Support the development of our staff to deliver their potential”
New themes: Fostering talent; developing the roles of nurses, midwives and AHPs; generate world class research
Links to annual objective “Improve patient pathways through collaboration with partners”
New themes: Making further improvements to quality and safety.
- Embedding inclusive leadership into all we do
- Links to annual objective “Support the development of our staff to deliver their potential”
New themes: Fostering talent; making further improvements to quality and safety
- To review the process for ensuring that the equality impact of service and policy changes is assessed and appropriate remedial action taken where necessary
Links to annual objectives: “Provide the highest quality care within our resources”
New themes: The balance between being a specialist hospital and delivering great care for our local population; making further improvements to quality and safety; fostering talent.
The delivery of our equality objectives is monitored through the Diversity and Equality Steering Group (DESG). Progress on our equality objectives is reported in our published annual equality report.