Our vision for equality and diversity
Using the principles of the EDS2 we will embed equality and diversity to build on the progress we have made, to ensure equality and diversity is in both service provision and employment, to achieve a significant change in our performance on equality, diversity and inclusion, whilst staying true to our vision and values as they are important to us.
Meeting our legal duty
As a public sector organisation, the Trust has a statutory duty to ensure that equality, diversity and human rights are embedded into all its functions and activities as required by the Equality Act 2010, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the NHS Constitution.
The
Equality Act 2010 replaces all previous equality legislation, such as; The Race Relations Act, The Disability Discrimination Act,
Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Religion and Belief Regulations and Sexual Orientation Regulation. The Equality Act Places a public sector equality duty on public sector organisations to pay 'due regard' to the personal protected characteristics in their decision making process when developing or reviewing policies, service redesign or restructure and the development of strategies.
The Equality Act is a key part of the legal framework that underpins the way the NHS provides its services and supports its staff. The duty also requires the Trust to collect, analyse and publish its
workforce data and
service user data equality data information in an accessible format. The Trust is also required to publish its equality objectives and an annual progress report on those objectives.
The Equality Act and
Human Rights Act are also underpinned by the
NHS Constitution.
The Equality Act outlaws discrimination against the following protected characteristics:
