Equality and Diversity
Our aim is to provide the best quality healthcare by providing the best patient experience, providing care closer to where people live, and provided by the best staff in the right place. We are committed to high quality patient care, effective and efficient use of resources, investing in staff, leadership and management and working towards a sustainable future.
We strive to eliminate all forms of discrimination and promote equality. To meet our equality duties, we will promote equality in the services that we provide and in the recruitment, selection, training, development and opportunities that we provide as an employer.
We are committed to shaping our services around the needs and preference of individual patients, their families and carers, and eliminating inequalities in patient experience and health outcomes.
Staff understand the value of differences among individuals as an asset to our organisation and we urge people to recognise that every individual's contribution should be valued, that everyone should be treated fairly, with decency, dignity and respect.
THE EQUALITY ACT 2010
During 2010 the Trust prepared for the implementation of the Equality Act updating a range of processes including recruitment and selection and ensuring full compliance with the Act.
The Equality Act requires equal treatment in access to employment as well as private and public services, regardless of the protected characteristics listed below;
- Age
- Disability
- Gender Reassignment
- Marraige and Civil Partnership
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Race
- Religion or belief
- Sex
- Sexual Orientation
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THE PUBLIC SECTOR EQUALITY DUTY
The Equality Act introduced the Public Sector Equality Duty which came into force on 5 April 2011. The Public Sector Equality Duty is made up of a general equality duty supported by specific duties.
The general equality duty, requires organisations, in the exercise of their functions, to have due regard to the need to;
- eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act,
- advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it,
- foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
This will be achieved by;
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· removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics,
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· taking steps to meet the needs of people with certain protected characteristics where these are different from the needs of other people,
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· encouraging people with certain protected characteristics to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low.
The specific duties are to;
The Equality Act 2010 can be accessed in full by accessing the below website;
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents
PROPOSED EQUALITY OBJECTIVES 2012
Equality Objective One – Better Health Outcomes for all
Use appropriate equality data to prioritise the access, quality and safety of our services to improve patient outcomes
- Assess appropriateness of requesting, collecting and storing protected characteristic data of patients who use our services.
- Identify mechanisms to support the collection and storing of this data such as via current procurement of modified PAS system and the monitoring forms used by PALS and Complaints team.
- Use the data effectively to improve the design and delivery of our services.
Equality Objective Two - Improved patient access and experience
Develop an integrated approach of patient engagement targeting protected characteristic groups to create a better understanding of how patient access and experience can be improved
- Develop productive relationships with patient/service user groups/charities, address identified concerns and communicate outcomes.
- Consider how to better engage with marginalized groups
- Effective use of in-house patient experience data
Equality Objective Three – Empowered, engaged and well-supported staff
Deliver HR initiatives that address the equality agenda and develop/support the workforce to achieve high levels of competence and confidence
Equality Objective Four - Inclusive leadership at all levels
Demonstrate leadership in advancing the equality agenda ensuring inequalities are identified and addressed leading to the provision of services that are personal, fair and diverse
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· Continue to develop the leadership skills of clinical leaders via training and support
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· Encourage a range of employees to become ‘personal, fair and diverse champions’ in order to raise awareness of equality issues and encourage the development of initiatives to address inequality.
PUBLISHING EQUALITIES INFORMATION
Below is a variety of documents and information that we are publishing in relation to the specific duty to publish information. This will be added to continuously and updated at least annually.
Summary of Equalities Information Published
Annual Report and Accounts 2010 - 2011
Your Health, Our Services 2009 - 2014
Workforce Data as at 31 December 2011
Staff Survey 2010
Foundation Trust Members data as at October 2011
NHS Doncaster JSNA (Joint Strategic Needs Assessment) 2010 - 2011
NHS Bassetlaw JSNA - currently under review
Fair Treatment For All
EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY STRATEGY
We are currently reviewing our Equality and Diversity Strategy. The Equality and Diversity Strategy that was created in 2006 is below.
The below sections of Race, Disability and Gender include our previous individual Equality Schemes. The Public Sector Equality Duty (see description above) replaced the requirement to create race, disability and gender equality duties.
Race
Disability
Gender
USEFUL WEBSITES
www.equalityhumanrights.com - The Website for The Equality and Human Rights Commission who have a statutory remit to promote and monitor human rights; and to protect, enforce and promote equality across the nine "protected" grounds - age, disability, gender, race, religion and belief, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, sexual orientation and gender reassignment.
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/equalities - The Governments Equalities Office leads on issues relating to women, sexual orientation and transgender equality matters and has responsibility across government for equality strategy and legislation.