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Our vision is to support our communities to live healthier, happier, fairer lives. This is why equality, diversity and inclusion is important to us.

Equality, diversity and inclusion has an impact on all our patients, colleagues and volunteers and the communities that we serve. Having a diverse workforce helps us to meet the diverse needs of the communities we serve.

As a large organisation and major employer, we have a responsibility to advance the welfare of the communities we serve. This is something we see as important in our role as an anchor institution.

Legal requirement

As a public sector organisation, the Equality Act 2010 states that we must comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty, along with a number of other legal and NHS Standard Contract requirements. We all have the right to be treated fairly at work and when using services.

And most importantly, treating individuals as human beings is the moral and right thing to do.

How do we monitor equality, diversity and inclusion here?

Like all public bodies we are required to publish information that shows how we are complying with our duties to equality, diversity and inclusion:

Collecting and monitoring data on the diversity of our workforce allows us to examine how our employment practices and processes are working, so areas where these appear to be impacting disproportionately on certain groups of staff can be identified. Importantly, the data collection, along with analysis can be used to inform and shape appropriate action.

The Equality Delivery System is a set of outcomes grouped under goals to help organisations improve the services they provide for their local communities and improve working conditions for those working in the NHS.

The gender pay gap is the difference in average earnings between women and men. Employers with more than 250 staff must report their organisation’s gender pay gap. Gender pay gap calculations are based on employer payroll data from a specific date each year.

We have three staff networks that enable staff to involved and support the Trust to become a more inclusive place to work: Ethnic Minority, LGBT+ and Disabled Staff Networks. 

Our networks:

  • Provide a forum for staff to talk about issues that specifically affect them,
  • Raise awareness of equality in the workplace, host events, diversity days and initiatives
  • Provide advice and guidance in the development and review of our policies and procedures.

Each year we produce an Annual Equality report in compliance with the Equality Act 2010 specific duties.

The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of specific measures that will enable NHS organisations to compare the experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff. This enables the Trust to better understand the experiences of our disabled staff and enable a more inclusive environment. The WDES will also allow us to identify good practice and compare our performance with similar Trusts. 

The results of the Trusts WDES submission for 2022 Workforce Disability Equality Action Plan for 2021-2024 can be found by visiting our Reports and Publications section.

The aim of the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) is to improve the experience of ethnic minority staff in the workplace. The implementation of the WRES will make tackling race equality a priority for the NHS and for the Trust. It will allow us to provide focus on a number of areas including:

  • Ethnic minority representation at Senior Management and Board level
  • The experience of ethnic minority staff in the employee relations process and NHS Staff Survey
  • The non-mandatory training and development opportunities made available to ethnic minority members of staff

The WRES is a tool to systematically identify gaps between ethnic minority & white staff experiences in the workplace. In measuring those gaps and taking action this will achieve:

  • Tangible progress in eliminating discrimination
  • Support in the creation of a positive working culture and valued staff
  • Improve the opportunities available to ethnic minority members of staff

This will create an environment in the Trust whereby all staff feels engaged, valued and supported. This will result in high quality patient care and improved health outcomes for all.

The results of the Trusts WRES submission for 2022 and the Workforce Race Equality Plan 2021-2024, can be found by visiting our Reports and Publications section.