Equality & Diversity
Nottingham CityCare Partnership including the Board, staff and stakeholders are fully committed to promoting equality, diversity and human rights and achieving the elimination of unlawful discrimination. We are embedding equality and diversity within all aspects of the organisation, by consulting with patients and communities. We incorporate equality and diversity into our business planning and governance structures.
We are committed to achieving better health outcomes for all, improving patient access and experience and having a represented and supported workforce with inclusive leadership.
We promote equality, identify and eliminate inequalities in all aspects of service provision and employment. We ensure our staff members are treated fairly, with dignity and respect and are given equality of opportunity to develop their full potential.
Equality does not mean treating everyone the same, but takes action to ensure people’s individual needs are met in terms of information and service regardless of their background or circumstances.
Diversity is about recognising, valuing and taking account of people’s different backgrounds.
The Human Rights Act makes it unlawful for public authorities to breach the fundamental rights and freedoms set out in the European Convention on Human Rights. It allows those who believe their rights have not been respected by public authorities to take legal action.
The Equality Act 2010 came into force in October 2010 and replaced a range of previous anti-discriminatory laws with a single Act. The Act identified nine protected characteristics:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment
- Marriage and Civil Partnership (but only in respect of eliminating unlawful discrimination)
- Pregnancy and Maternity
- Race – this includes ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality
- Religion or Belief – this includes lack of belief
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
It is a duty of public bodies, and others carrying out public functions, to ensure that they consider the needs of all individuals from protected groups in their day to day work – in shaping policy, in delivering services and in relation to their own employees.
When delivering services, public bodies must have due regard to the need to:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
- Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
‘Due regard’ means consciously thinking about the three aims of the Equality Duty as part of the decision-making process. This means that consideration of equality issues must influence the decisions reached by the organisation – such as how we act as employers, how we develop, evaluate and review policy and how we design, deliver and evaluate services.
As part of the Public Sector Equality Duty outlined in the Equality Act 2010, CityCare is required to set and publish Equality Objectives. We are currently in the process of reviewing and updating our Equality Objectives, which will demonstrate how we intend to strengthen our performance in delivering equality. Our objectives will also focus on the four Equality Delivery System (EDS2) goals and outcomes.
We would welcome your views and feedback which will help us develop our objectives further to reflect the needs of the diverse people and communities of Nottingham. If you have any comments, please contact: Fiona Cambridge: Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Lead on 0115 88 39329 or email f.cambridge@nhs.net
- Click here to see our Equality and Diversity Objectives
- Click here to view our Workforce Race Equality Standards Data
The EDS has been designed to help NHS organisations, including those providing NHS services, to improve their performance, reduce health inequalities and demonstrate progress. The EDS centres on genuine engagement, transparency and the effective use of evidence to help organisations to address health inequalities, improve outcomes and reduce gaps.
By using the EDS we will be able to demonstrate that we are meeting the requirements of the Equality Act and the Care Quality Commission Essential Standards. The EDS framework is made up of four main goals, which are broken down into detailed outcomes, which pose questions for organisations to answer, providing evidence where necessary in order to grade their equality performance.
The four main goals are: better health outcomes for all; improved patient access and experience; a representative and supported workforce and inclusive leadership.
For each outcome, one of the following grades will be applied:
- Purple: Excelling – all protected groups are covered.
- Green: Achieving - most protected groups are covered (6-8).
- Amber: Developing – some protected groups are covered (3-5).
- Red: Undeveloped - no evidence at all, few (1-2) or no protected groups are covered.
The 2015/16 NHS Standard Contract requires the Workforce Race Equality Standard be undertaken. The challenge is to ensure that black and minority ethnic (BME) staff are treated fairly and their talents valued and developed within the organisation. Research shows unfairness in the appointment, treatment and development of a large section of the workforce with staff feeling undervalued. The WRES tackles one aspect of equality; the treatment and experience of BME staff. The information gathered is based on workforce data, the CityCare staff survey and Board composition.
In 2015 the Equality & Diversity Council commissioned research looking at disability in the NHS workplace. This showed that disabled staff consistently reported higher levels of bullying and harassment and less satisfaction with appraisals and career development opportunities. The purpose of the WDES is to improve the experience of disabled staff working in, and seeking employment in, the NHS.
The WDES will help foster a better understanding of the issues faced by disabled staff; supporting positive change through action plans and a more inclusive environment with an increased focus on disability and the voices of disabled staff.
The WDES became mandatory for NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts only in 2019. CityCare have chosen to completed the WDES from this date as to support this important agenda and demonstrate a commitment to support our staff with a disability.
As a health care provider, we have a legal duty to promote equality. Equality Analysis is a way of considering the effect on different groups protected from discrimination as defined by the Equality Act. Equality Analysis involves using equality data, and feedback from engagement with protected groups and others, to understand the actual or potential impact of Nottingham CityCare Partnership’s functions, policies or decisions. It can help the organisation identify practical steps to tackle any negative impact or discrimination, to advance equality and to foster good relations. Equality Analysis also highlights areas of good practice.
We regularly review our current methods, including our Equality Impact Assessments, and aim to develop these further during 2015 in order to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our diverse communities
CityCare strives to ensure that patient and public views and opinions are at the heart of our decision-making and in the evaluation of our services.
CityCare has established a Members Panel and Patient Experience Groups. We are working hard to ensure that membership reflects the diversity of the population we serve. Our Patient Experience Group is chaired by a Non- Executive Director and feeds directly into the Board. Feedback and opinions are used to inform service developments and ensure that patient views are considered throughout the organisation. A dedicated Patient Experience Group focuses on people with a learning disability.
We also consult and communicate with a diverse range of groups so that their feedback informs the way our services develop and change. Our Equality Impact Assessments factor in engagement with communities when a function, policy or service may affect a protected group. Reports from all engagement activities are shared with everyone involved in the process, specifically highlighting how feedback has been used and the impact it has had.
CityCare held an event on 10 December 2015 inviting stakeholders to assess and grade the Equality Delivery Strategy (EDS2). A total of 37 representatives attended; staff, patients and the public including those representing people from protected groups and specialist organisations.
The event was an open and honest exercise where patients and stakeholders were able to discuss and agree how CityCare are performing and prioritising equality and diversity matters. Examples of practice were shared with delegates ahead of the event with senior managers, managers and team leaders presenting this information on the day and facilitating discussion. Stakeholders were then invited to grade each area.
The outcome was positive with the majority of areas rated as ‘achieving’. Several areas are at the ‘developing’ stage including SystmOne, fair recuritment, positive staff experience and managers supporting staff to work in culturally competent ways. It was agreed the areas identified as ‘developing’ already had actions in place within the EDS2 Action Plan and were being further developed. Feedback from the event was positive and staff reported this was valuable in having the opportunity to share good practice.
You can download the report by clicking here.
Nottingham CityCare Partnership’s Equality Diversity and Inclusion Report for 2019-20 is now available. The report highlights CityCare’s achievements along with the results of our grading event for the Equality Delivery System, workforce statistics and our Workforce Race Equality Standard report. Click here to download.
Following government consultation, it became mandatory on 31 March 2017 for organizations’ with over 250 employees to report annually on their gender pay gap.
The data will be available before 5th April 2018; and thereafter information will be published annually for all employees who are employed under a contract of employment, a contract of apprenticeship or a contract personally to do work. This will include those under Agenda for Change terms and conditions, medical staff and very senior managers.
In collating this data, organizations will be able to highlight and review any anomalies between the pay of female and male employees and in turn required actions.
Please click here to download the 2017 report
Please click here to download the 2018 report
Please click here to download our 2020 report
Please click here to download our 2021 report
