Equality, diversity and inclusion

Equality, diversity and inclusion at ESNEFT

Equality Diversity and Inclusion is rooted in the Human Rights Act (1998) and the Equality Act (2010).

As such, it is at the heart of all we do in our everyday activities, reflected in the ESENFT People Strategy.

As a Trust we are committed to safeguarding the rights and wellbeing of all our staff members as well as our patients, under the 9 protected characteristics and of those who do not share it (Equality Act, 2010).

The Equality Diversity and Inclusion Agenda ensures that the Trust fulfils its Statutory and Public Equality Duty, that all staff and patients are treated in a fair and equitable manner, with dignity and respect, have equal opportunity to resources and representation under the Equality Act (2010).

The EDI ensures that no person is subject to any form of discrimination, harassment and other treatments that would have a detriment on the individual.

Prioritising as well as promoting the EDI Agenda will further fulfil the Trust commitment to being a Model Employer.

Together we can achieve in ensuring that as a Trust we remain proud in looking after each other, in providing high standards of quality service. In line with the NHS Long Term Plan, People Plan, People Promise and a Model Employer intrinsic in the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Agenda, we all consistently strive to improve, to take the learning into Action for a better ESNEFT.

We are constantly thinking of new ways to engage with our diverse workforce and the local population.

We want the service we provide to meet everyone’s needs – both patients and staff. We believe this is more than just a legal requirement under the Equality Act 2010:

We want to make it easy for people to access our services
We want to recruit and retain our staff from all communities
We want our staff and those who use our services to be valued and respected as individuals
We want to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and honestly.

We have started work to set up support groups and networks across our organisation. These have been very successful. More information will be provided about these in due course.

We are also working with NHS England to complete work on our equality standards.

Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES)

The WRES Action Plan 2020 provides the Trust with assurance of compliance with the mandatory WRES reporting regulations set out by NHS England.

The plan sets out the key actions to be taken by the Trust to address the gaps in experience between ethnic minority staff in comparison to their white counterparts based on our WRES data submission. This action plan details how ESNEFT will achieve an improvement on the experiences of ethnic minority staff working co-productively with our ethnic minority staff network – EMBrace to become an anti-racist organisation.

Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) – we are disability confident committed

We have signed up to be a Disability Confident committed employer and we have committed to the following:

Ensure our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible
Communicate and promote vacancies
Offer an interview to disabled people
Anticipate and provide reasonable adjustments as required
Support any existing employee who acquires a disability or long-term health conditions, enabling them to stay in work.

The Gender Pay Gap

The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017, introduced gender pay reporting legislation, which requires employers with 250 or more employees to publish statutory calculations every year identifying the pay gap between male and female employees. We are required to publish results on 6 indicators and this information, which has been checked and authorised by our Chief Executive, is available below.

A detailed analysis by staff group and division will inform a Gender Pay Gap action plan. This will be developed with managers, colleagues and trade union representatives and will:

Communicate to existing staff that the Trust is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, that gives equal opportunities to all employees irrespective of gender.
Assist in monitoring pay, bonus and career progression among staff to ensure that all employees, irrespective of gender are supported to reach their full potential on the basis of skill development, patient experience and high performance.
Be available to potential applicants, which may attract a wider pool of talented people for vacancies, helping the Trust to recruit the best possible candidates;
Provide a positive message to report in subsequent gender pay reporting statements, which is particularly useful if some of the measures identified may take some time to be implemented and effective.