Equality
We recognise the importance of ensuring our services are fair and equitable to all.
The diversity of our colleagues, service users, partners and any visitors to our services is celebrated. We expect that everyone who visits our sites, comes into contact with our services, or who works for LPFT to be able to fully participate and achieve their full potential in a safe and supportive environment.
We welcome everyone inclusive of race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, age, religion or belief.
The Equality Annual Report sets out the Trust’s approach to equality and diversity; both as an employer and as a healthcare organisation providing service.
It explains and responds to the Trust’s statutory duties to promote equality amongst groups of people who have specific protected characteristics, as defined by the Equality Act 2010. It supports the legal obligations we have in relation to the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duties 2011 as well as demonstrating how the Trust meets its contractual obligations within the NHS Standard Contract.
You can read the LPFT Annual Equality Report on our website.
We have a duty of care to ensure equality is embedded into everything we do and make changes that improve the lives of those individuals in our care or employed with us.
Equality objectives
We meet all of the requirements from within the Public Sector Equality Duty (which forms part of the Equality Act 2010).
As part of this each year equality objectives are set. Within the last year good progress has bee made against the 47 objectives set, based on all of the Trust’s equality data and statutory and contractual duties required. Any that are outstanding will be carried forward into 2024-25.
Some examples of objectives completed this year are:
- Communications and videos produced on the importance of people declaring demographics and how this data is used to improve things.
- A training video produced on how and why Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are needed and monthly workshops established to support staff in completing EIAs as they are required.
Staff networks
Our staff networks provide a platform for colleagues to voice their opinions and support us in improving working practices and services. It has been an invaluable resource and led to the development of a number of positive outcomes.
There are currently eight active staff networks:
- MAPLE (mental and physical lived experience) and allies disability staff network.
- Neurodiversity network (separate peer support sub network of MAPLE).
- LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi and trans) and allies staff network.
- REACH (race, ethnicity, and cultural heritage) and allies staff network.
- Women’s and allies staff network
- Men’s and allies staff network
- DAISIES- Domestic Abuse: Improving support in every service- staff network
- Carers staff network
These networks are open to all colleagues who have an interest in supporting these areas. They do not have to identify with the area, just have a desire to champion within their own working area. Meetings take place monthly and continue to be held virtually since the pandemic, which has increased engagement and attendance.
Each staff network has co-chairs who support leading the network and an executive sponsor who is committed to championing that group at Board level.
The network co-chairs and executive sponsors meet collectively quarterly for our Council of Staff Networks so that links can be made in any cross over work and also to give all executive directors an opportunity to hear from all of the networks.
Here are some of their activities this year:
- Pilot of new reciprocal mentoring scheme taken place across all staff networks. Plans to roll out further following evaluation.
- First system-wide International Women’s day conference hosted and system working for the women’s networks underway.
- Manager and employee return to work packs, for anyone returning from a long term period of absence from the workplace.
- System-wide activities for LGBTQ+, Black and Disability History months.
- Lincolnshire’s NHS were headline sponsors at the Lincoln Pride events.
- Ask me anything panels with our MAPLE and Neurodiversity Networks.
- Increasing engagement in our REACH network following drop-in sessions around the county.
- New pronouns resource to educate and spread awareness in support of our LGBTQ+ colleagues, service users, and wider community.
- New system-wide fertility network jointly hosted by the Men’s and Women’s networks.
- Surveyed staff from across all networks on the barriers they face accessing staff network meetings.
Equality Delivery System
The Equality Delivery System (EDS) implementation is mandatory for NHS providers detailed in the NHS Standard Contract. Its main purpose is to help local systems and NHS organisations improve their performance for people with characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010 and is designed to help NHS organisations meet the public sector equality duty and to set equality objectives.
The EDS is an accountable improvement tool and comprises eleven outcomes spread across three domains, these are:
- Domain 1 - Commissioned or provided services (Clinical services reporting to Quality Committee)
- Domain 2 - Workforce health and wellbeing (reporting to People Committee)
- Domain 3 - Inclusive leadership (Board)
The outcomes are evaluated and scored using NHS England guidance ratings of 0-3. This tool was updated in 2022, however the introduction of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion workforce high impact actions and patient and carer race equality framework (PCREF) have in many ways superseded (and replicate some of)
this work.
The guidance ratings are quite narrow in their focus and restrictive in terms of success criteria, our plans evidence higher levels of ambition for this work. Therefore, what is more important when using this tool is the analysis of the data discussions and actions it generates.
Interpreting and translation services
The Trust has two providers for interpretation and translation services, depending on what type of requirement people have. One provider, which provides telephone, video, face to face interpretation, as well as document translation services, and a specialist provider, which provide sensory impairments interpretation and translation such as British Sign Language (BSL).
Accessible information standards (AIS)
The NHS England Accessible Information Standard helps to make health and social care information accessible. It provides a framework for patients, service users, carers and relatives who have communication support needs because of a disability, impairment, or sensory loss.
Meeting these needs means the standard information must be able to be received and understood by the individual or group it is intended for. The AIS also outlines the importance of ‘communication support’, which means that we must facilitate an effective and correct dialogue between a professional and service user.
Ensuring our services are equally accessible to all is at the heart of our values. In compliance with AIS requirements, we pay due regard to the information and communication needs of our patients, service users, carers and relatives. We are committed to supporting verbal and non-verbal communication needs and continue to work hard on robust systems to do this.
Benefits of accessible information
Providing information in ways service users understand can make a positive difference to their lives as they will be more likely to be able to:
- Make informed choices and decisions about their health, wellbeing, care, treatment and procedures.
- Manage their health conditions for themselves.
- Access services independently.
- Decide on whether they wish to give or withhold consent for treatment and procedures.
Workforce Race Equality Standards (WRES)
Since April 2015, the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) has been implemented across NHS organisations in England to promote racial equality. Incorporated into the NHS standard contract, the WRES mandates NHS trusts to annually publish data related to race equality, focusing on nine key indicators. These indicators aim to compare the workplace experiences and board representation of white and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff, encouraging organisations to identify disparities and develop action plans for improvement.
The initiative, developed after extensive consultation with stakeholders, seeks to enhance BME staff representation at all levels within the NHS, particularly in leadership positions, and to ensure equitable treatment and opportunities for all employees.
Each year our report not only assesses our progress and obstacles but also outlines a strategic action plan designed to promote race equality within our Trust.
Our commitment goes beyond mere compliance; it is a moral obligation to scrutinise our practices, policies, and culture through the reflective lens that the WRES provides.
The report symbolises our continuous journey towards a truly inclusive NHS. Through transparency, accountability, and a collective pursuit of equality, we aspire not only to meet but surpass the standards outlined by the WRES, ultimately benefiting our staff, patients, and the broader community of Lincolnshire.
We are working to improve our WRES data further, particularly the staff survey and recruitment metrics. In 2023, we progressed the following interventions to improve our WRES performance:
- Introduce EDI objectives into all Board appraisals.
- Positive action taken to increase Board representation.
- Strengthening the REACH (Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage) staff network.
- Commissioned a bespoke career development programme for internationally educated nurses.
You can read a detailed account of our WRES data and actions to improve performance on our website.
Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES)
The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) report represents a pivotal step towards enhancing the work life and career progression of disabled staff within the NHS.
The WDES outlines ten specific metrics to measure the disparities between the experiences of disabled and non-disabled employees across NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts, with an obligation to annually disclose their findings.
This initiative underscores a commitment to transparency and the acknowledgment of the challenges faced by disabled members of our workforce. It is widely recognised through various data and personal accounts that our colleagues with disabilities encounter obstacles in their professional environments. Our workforce is diverse, encompassing individuals with a spectrum of disabilities and long term health conditions, ranging from visible to invisible and fluctuating conditions that impact their work capabilities in unique ways. Addressing these needs is not just about compliance; it’s about fostering a supportive and adaptable environment for everyone.
Initiatives to improve performance include:
- Ensuring all colleagues are aware and trained on why declaring a disability is important, what the information will be used for, and how to update this.
- Further promoting the Trust as an inclusive employer for disabled candidates.
- Co-producing a reasonable adjustments toolkit with our disabled colleagues.
You can read a detailed account of our WDES data and actions to improve performance on our website.
Looking to the future
We are committed to developing our EDI commitments, approaches, projects, plans and interventions over the coming year. This includes progressing our equality objectives for 2024-2025 as well as focusing on the following key areas:
- Implementing the Trust’s overarching recruitment plan.
- Implementing the Trust’s belonging plan (which looks at challenge/ support and educate).
- Further implementing the high impact actions from NHS England, specifically around the pay gaps for gender/ ethnicity and disability.
