Resource Library: Equality Diversity and Inclusion

To help reduce inequalities and support our staff, the NHS People Plan and the NHS equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) improvement plan recognise staff networks as vital: driving meaningful change and creating organisational cultures where everyone feels they belong.

This toolkit includes useful guidance and resources to help develop your staff networks across the NHS.

All people professionals need to understand equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and the role they have to play in creating inclusive organisations that value wellbeing and equality of opportunity. As a specialist knowledge area of the CIPD Profession Map, promoting and delivering EDI in the workplace is an essential aspect of good people management.

Skilled EDI practitioners and specialists can drive the sustainable change needed to build a culture of trust, enabling people to speak up, feel safe and advocate for others. An effective strategy goes beyond legal compliance, leveraging data to address inequalities. As the area of EDI is ever evolving and adapting to changing needs of workplaces and the people profession, it’s crucial to stay up to date with best practice.

Developed in collaboration with the NHS and written by consultant Ash Ahmad, this Accredited Programme features input from NHS England and global industry experts. Each module challenges practitioners to reflect on their current approach to the topic and build the confidence and skills to apply learning to their context.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Accredited Programme | CIPD Courses

We are committed to ensuring and encouraging genuine belonging for people working across health and social care in Humber and North Yorkshire (HNY). When we can be ourselves at work, the quality of the care we provide for local people increases.

Inclusive language guidance - Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership

Supporting leaders to understand the needs of trans and non-binary colleagues so they can perform their duties and provide high-quality allyship.

Leading for all: supporting trans and non-binary healthcare staff | NHS Confederation

Made by students, for students. We create resources to raise awareness and support neurodivergent student healthcare professionals.

SSHINE – Sharing Student Healthcare Initiative for Neurodiversity & Equity (wordpress.com)

Skills for Care has published a new framework to support social care workers in providing care to older lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer (LGBTQ+) people.

This new framework was commissioned and funded by Skills for Care and developed by the University of Strathclyde and the Pride in Ageing programme at LGBT Foundation. It was created in collaboration with older LGBTQ+ people.

The release of this framework comes as LGBT+ History Month is recognised across the UK in February.

New guidance released to support care workers in providing care to LGBTQ+ people in later life (skillsforcare.org.uk)

The NHS Confederation's Health and Care Women Leaders Network responds to the new charter on sexual safety at work

NHS England released its first ever charter on sexual safety at work, with ten pledges for organisations to follow to safeguard staff. The NHS Confederation is a founding signatory of the charter through NHS Employers.

NHS Confederation responds to NHS England’s new sexual safety charter | NHS Confederation

NHS Employers has responded to the Health Care Professionals Council’s recent consultation on standards of conduct, performance and ethics.

This improvement plan sets out targeted actions to address the prejudice and discrimination – direct and indirect – that exists through behaviour, policies, practices and cultures against certain groups and individuals across the NHS workforce.

NHS England » NHS equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) improvement plan

Combining parenthood and a surgical career can be challenging, but pregnancy, adoption or parental leave should not be a barrier or an influencing factor on pursuing your chosen surgical career. In fact parenthood enhances a whole host of useful skills; prioritisation, perspective, time management and organisation – not to mention improved skills with paediatric patients!

Parenthood and Orthopaedics (boa.ac.uk)

Free Online Equality and Diversity Course with Certificate (freecoursesinengland.co.uk)

There has been a significant focus on wellbeing and mental health within the ambulance service, with production of resources relevant to suicide prevention within the sector. While staff mental health and wellbeing is an issue with many factors contributing to this, one aspect of ambulance culture that has recently come into focus is that related to sexual safety.

This document outlines information gathered during the ‘discovery phase’ of the ‘Reducing Misogyny and Improving Sexual Safety in the Ambulance Service’ workstream.

Reducing Misogyny and Improving Sexual Safety in the Ambulance Service - aace.org.uk

The National Ambulance LGBT+ Network is working on a number of resources and initiatives to support LGBT+ patients and staff. Find out more by clicking on the links below.

This report focuses on the experiences of people who are ‘ace’ – people who experience little or no sexual attraction. Ace is a popular term among the community used to describe their sexual orientation, but many readers will be more familiar with terms like asexual or asexuality.

Ace In The UK (stonewall.org.uk)

Raising up the Staff Voice through the Power of Staff Networks - a National Inclusion Week special episode with NHS Employers

Raising up the Staff Voice through the Power of Staff Networks - a National Inclusion Week special episode with NHS Employers (buzzsprout.com)

Guidance on how technology can be leveraged to support equality, diversity and inclusion.

Technology is a powerful force in shaping the modern workplace and in supporting equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). Indeed, EDI is critical to business success, with one survey claiming that 98% of HR leaders believe that EDI is important to overall business strategy.   

Using technology responsibly can help dismantle barriers to work and support the unique needs of individuals. It facilitates fairer outcomes as well as equality of outcomes.   

This guide examines how technology can be used to make workplaces more equitable, diverse and inclusive. It outlines the benefits and risks of using technology and guiding principles to equip you with knowledge to advocate for EDI practices.  

As these technologies become more sophisticated and embedded, people professionals must make sure their use isn’t just ethical and compliant with regulations, but that it also helps achieve their organisations’ EDI goals. 

Technology use in equality, diversity and inclusion | CIPD

The adult trans care pathway focuses on the care of people with:

• variations of sex characteristics (VSC)
• trans people aged 17 years and older and transitioning their gender
• non-binary people aged 17 years and older and transitioning their gender

The trans care pathway refers mainly to patients transitioning gender medically, rather than socially or legally.

The adult trans care pathway - Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk)

Disabled staff can face additional mental health challenges in the workplace, find out how you can help support them and access our resources.

Mental ill health can be a form of disability. However, those who have lived experience of a physical or non-visible long-term condition may also experience mental ill health. This may sometimes be related to that physical disability or long-term condition or it can be unrelated.  

1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England. Under the Equality Act 2010, a mental health condition is considered a disability if it has a long-term effect on a person’s normal day-to-day activity. Our mental wellbeing infographic provides a range of up-to-date key statistics and facts about mental wellbeing in the workplace. High levels of stigma mean that mental ill health is often hidden.

The mental health of disabled staff | NHS Employers

NHS England has committed to the Care Leavers Covenant, funded by DfE and supported by all government departments, to provide support for care leavers aged 16 – 25 to help them live independently. The Universal Family programme has been setup to promote and embed the Care Leavers Covenant within the health system and create a substantial talent pipeline from the population to address some of the current workforce challenges. We aim to:

• Make a firm and visible commitment to supporting Care Leavers in our NHS Family 
• Ensure 250 young Care Leavers, access employment, education and training opportunities in service by 2024 increasing this number in 2024 / 25
• Work with the Care Leavers Covenant programme to support 10 pathfinder ICBs to recruit 250 Young Care Leavers access employment, education and training opportunities in the NHS this FY. This will be expanded in FY 24/25 to cover all ICBs.
• Develop a Care Leavers Peer Support Network.
• Develop and launch programme resources and a toolkit. The first stage of this, a quick-guide toolkit, is now available in draft. You can access this further down the page.

The NHS Universal Family (Care Leavers Covenant) - Workforce Supply - FutureNHS Collaboration Platform

The goal of health and social care services are to run the best health and wellbeing service possible, but this can only happen with a healthy workforce.

Information and the lived experience of staff shows us how discrimination can make staff unhealthy and how race discrimination affects people’s health the most. The disproportionate level of discrimination among Black, Asian and ethnic minority staff is evident in our NHS staff survey and WRES data.

The People Plan written in summer 2020, says the problem of race discrimination needs to be tackled urgently. Senior leaders and staff in the Midlands region have worked together to write the Midland Race Equality Plan. The plan explains how racism can be tackled in health and social care across the region.

The NHS was first set up to create a healthcare service that is supposed to be accessible and inclusive to everyone. However, many people who are disadvantaged in society do not have good access to healthcare and still have poor health outcomes. This also rings true for our staff who continue to experience discrimination within the NHS.

This plan will only succeed if everyone takes responsibility for their actions and how they behave.

NHS England — Midlands » Midlands Workforce, Race, Equality and Inclusion strategy

The Visible Leaders Network (VLN) is a network for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff leaders and aspiring leaders in Primary and Secondary Care. It is designed to support your personal progression to senior level roles within the NHS.

You can join the VLN if you are an NHS employee working in the Midlands at Band 3*- 8a level or equivalent.

With inclusive membership in mind, if you are not Band 3*- 8a and have an interest in joining the VLN please email us.

Visible Leaders Network – Midlands (leadershipacademy.nhs.uk)