Equality and Diversity
We are committed to equal opportunities and to building a valued workforce whose diversity reflects our community. Our Equality and Diversity Policy takes into account all current UK and EU legislation and guidelines issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission on compliance with the Equality Act 2010.
We aim to be an inclusive organisation, ensuring that patients, job applicants, employees, contractors, agency staff and visitors will not be disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be justified, particularly on the grounds of ethnic origin, or nationality, disability, gender, gender assignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity status, age, sexual orientation, trade union activity, political or religious beliefs.
We are a Disability Confident employer.
Click on the link to read a copy of our Equality and Diversity Policy
NHS England has mandated the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) for NHS organisations from April 2015. Trusts are required, under the NHS standard contract, to implement the Standard by publishing workforce ethnicity data as of 1 April 2015 before the 1 July 2015 and annually thereafter. There are 9 indicators or metrics in the NHS England reporting template, designed to give an overview of the organization.
Workforce Race Equality Standard action plan 2023.
The 2023 WRES Report can be viewed here.
The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES), commissioned by the Equality and Diversity Council is mandated through the NHS Contract for 2019. It is designed to enable NHS organisations to compare the experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff and to use the information to develop a local action plan to demonstrate and monitor progress against indicators of disability equality.
Our 2023 WDES report can be viewed here.
Modern slavery is the recruitment, movement, harbouring or receiving of children, women or men through the use of force, coercion; abuse of vulnerability, deception or other means for the purpose of exploitation. We are committed to delivering high standards of corporate governance and a key element of this is managing the Trust is a socially responsible way. We are committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking in our corporate activities and through our supply chains and we expect the same high standards from those parties with whom we engage. Read our Modern Slavery Statement below:
Anti-Slavery Statement
This statement, made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, sets out the approach taken by University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust to understand all potential modern slavery risks related to its business, and the actions undertaken to mitigate any such risks.
Our Board is committed to delivering high standards of corporate governance and a key element of this is managing the Trust in a socially responsible way. We are committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking in our corporate activities and through our supply chains and we expect the same high standards from those parties with whom we engage. During the course of the year, we have emphasised our commitment through a number of mechanisms:
Recruitment and Selection
Our policies and procedures in relation to recruitment and selection of staff ensure that we comply with all employment, equalities and human rights legislation. This includes the prevention of slavery and human trafficking.
Safeguarding Arrangements
Modern Slavery was identified as a separate category of abuse in the Care Act 2014 and as such sits within our safeguarding agenda for adults who have care and support needs. Our policy and procedures in relation to safeguarding refer to Modern Slavery including Human Trafficking and identifies possible indicators for staff to lookout for and sets out the procedure of how to raise safeguarding concerns.
We deliver mandatory safeguarding awareness training to all staff which includes identifying Modern Slavery as a category of abuse. In addition to this we provide an enhanced level of safeguarding training to all of our qualified clinical staff which discusses in more depth the categories of abuse including Modern Slavery.
Supply Chain
Our Supply Chain is made up of a number of large multi-national companies, Small to Medium Enterprises (SME’s) and small local suppliers. The location of supplier premises and manufacture locations are spread globally but the vast majority are situated in the European Union, where it is estimated that several hundred thousand people work for the aforementioned suppliers although not all these people work on UHNM related goods and services.
We have ensured that Anti-Slavery related provision is contained in both our Standard Terms and Conditions of Purchase which are issued with every Purchase Order and all tender documentation issued by the Trust.
Due to the nature of our business and our approach to governance and risk management, we assess that there is low risk of slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chains. However we will continue to periodically review the effectiveness of our relevant policies, procedures and associated training to ensure that the risk remains low.
We do not have key performance indicators in relation to slavery or human trafficking as any instance would be expected to be a breach of law, our supplier standards and/or our local policies and therefore acted upon accordingly.
If you have any queries, please email the Workforce Information team on ESR.SupportUHNS@uhns.nhs.uk
The Trust is committed to promoting Equality and Diversity and one of the ways we achieve this is through a programme of training workshops for staff. The overall aim of these workshops is to raise awareness of Equality and Diversity and how this impacts on service delivery. The sessions highlight the importance and relevance of Equality and Diversity in today's NHS.
These half day workshops are for all staff and are designed to enable the participants to utilise tools to explore and develop their roles. They are able to recognise a variety of Equality and Diversity issues and implement pertinent strategies for effective working practice in line with the Trust's Equality and Diversity action plan. The workshops cover key elements such as responsibilities as a role model, Equality and Diversity responsibilities as a manager and employee in addition to legislation and policy.
Equality and Diversity training is also available as an e-learning package which can be completed by staff from any computer in the Trust. Equality and Diversity will form part of common core content for all clinical and non-clinical foundation degrees developed in partnership with local universities and the Trust. Equality and Diversity will continue to be highlighted at corporate induction with signposting to the E-Learning programme and the workshops.
Useful information
- Human rights in healthcare document
NHS Rainbow Badge Scheme
Have you spotted our NHS Rainbow Badges?
You may have spotted staff with NHS rainbow badges pinned to their clothing and lanyards. The badges are just one way to show that UHNM is an open and non-judgemental and inclusive place for people that identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, with the + meaning inclusivity of all identities, regardless of how people define themselves.
If you see someone wearing a badge, they have made an informed choice to do so, so please ask them about it. The badge is a reminder that you can talk to our staff about who you are, be open about your identity and how you feel. You can be sure they are a friendly ear, willing to listen without judgement and will do their best to get support for you if you need it. Please don't be afraid to talk to them.
About the Rainbow Badge initiative?
NHS Rainbow Badges are a nationwide initiative that originated at the Evelina children's hospital, part of Guy's and Thomas's in London. LGBT+ stands for lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender, with the + meaning inclusivity of all identities, regardless of how people define themselves.
Statistics from the LGBT rights charity Stonewall claim one in four patients had witnessed negative remarks about LGBT people from healthcare staff while accessing services. One in seven LGBT people said they have avoided treatment altogether for fear of discrimination.
To increase the awareness of these issues and to help improve the experiences of healthcare for LGBT+ patients, our staff wear NHS Rainbow Badges.