Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

The Trusts EDI Strategy; which we named 'Everyday Inclusion'; and our equality objectives were developed using staff and patient feedback.  This was approved by the Board in January 2020. 

The Strategy is our public commitment of how we plan to meet the needs and wishes of local people and our staff, and meet the duties placed upon us by the Equality Act 2010, and the requirements of EDS2. Working with staff and patients the strategy has been developed to reflect our commitment to equality and diversity legislation. 

Look out for more information in coming weeks demonstrating how we will bring the Strategy to life and cement a culture of inclusion Trust wide.

Everyday Inclusion - STSFT Inclusion Strategy 

Recent activities

STSFT supporting staff with access to free sanitary products

From March 2023, as part of a 12 month pilot staff will be given access to sanitary products free of charge in line with national campaign against period poverty.

Throughout the last year we have listened to staff through the Big Team Talk, staff survey, at our staff networks, and through the Chief Exec Live and the Facebook group.  Staff told us that they have experienced unexpected bleeds at work due to the menopause, struggled to access sanitary products whilst at work and many staff have shared concerns about cost of living.  In response to this, from 8^th March which marks International Women’s Day we will be dropping off baskets of sanitary products across all Trust sites.  They won’t be in every toilet but they will be available for staff to access in high footfall areas across all Trust sites and venues such as staff changing facilities and toilets that have a sanitary bin. Within the baskets there will be tampons and sanitary pads alongside a urine colour chart, which can aid staff in knowing if they are hydrated.

The baskets will be dropped off throughout March, and we would ask that staff volunteer to be the person to contact the Inclusion Team who will arrange to refill the baskets. If you would like to be a volunteer please contact stsft.inclusion@nhs.net.

We are committed to supporting all our staff and you may have seen some of the other things we are doing including financial support with the introduction of our credit union, our three staff networks, the fantastic work our carer coordinator does, team support and our recently launched health and wellbeing checks. The Health and Wellbeing checks are aimed at identifying people's risks of developing health conditions including Heart disease, Stroke, Kidney disease or Type 2 diabetes. The check includes screening of lifestyle factors. As well as carrying out measurements such as height, weight, cholesterol and blood pressure. For further information or to request a Health and Wellbeing Check please contact the Wellbeing Team on 0191 5410069 (Ext 40069) or by email @ stsft.wellbeing@nhs.net.

Inclusion Team Podcast - click here

Melissa Bus 

The Inclusion Team attended the three day roadhsow at Clarendon, South Tyneside and Sunderland in July 2022 promoting the inclusion team work and NHS Rainbow badge pledges.

Pride 2023

It has been brilliant to again attend both Sunderland and Northern Pride this year. The Trust took part in the marches at both events and held a stall at Sunderland Pride to engage with the local community and discuss how we can make our services more inclusive for all. 

Click here to read our Sunderland Pride 2023 report. 

Transgender Day of Visibility

Transgender Day of Visibility 2022 - Sarah Jones Lunch and Learn Report

Hate Crime Conference- October 2021

Hate Crime Conference Summary Report

'Work with us' Recruitment Event- October 2021

The week of sessions will look to engage people from underpresented groups that have a disability or long term condition or from a black, asisan and ethnic minority communities promoting the various roles within the NHS and public sector.

Work for us Summary Report 

NHS Virtual Pride- 10^th September 2021.

NHS England hosting the week-long, Pride in the NHS Week virtual festival (starting on 6^th September 2021) and the NHS Virtual Pride grand finale, which concluded Pride in the NHS Week, on 10^th September 2021.

NHS England learned through the pandemic that 2020s NHS Virtual Pride opened up more opportunities than ever for LGBT+ people to join in with the activism and celebrations and to connect with each other in new and exciting ways. Allies were also able to learn and explore their responsibilities in creating a workplace where everyone is valued and included. Follow @people_nhs on Twitter for updates

Pride 2021

A week of Rainbows sumamry report 

A week of rainbows programme of events 

In 2021, despite the pandemic, we organised a range of socially distanced activities for staff to support Pride inclusing Rainbow Badge Pledges- watch our video here.

As always, we raised the Progress Pride flag at both South Tyneside District Hospital and Sunderland Royal Hospital – click here to learn more about Pride Flags. We also hosted stalls promoting the LGBT+ network and asked staff to make their own Pride Pledge and published this on social media.

NHS Rainbow badges- find out more here

Pride 2020

In 2020 to celebrate Pride staff from STSFT and Unison entered a photo competition. Some of the pictures sent in can be found out more here

Black History Month 2020

Find out more here

Pride 2019

Sunderland Pride- find out more here

What is a Hate Incident or Hate Crime?

Hate incidents and hate crimes are acts of violence or hostility directed at people because of who they are or who someone thinks they are. These crimes or incidents are usually motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic. The five main characteristics are:

• Race
• Religion/faith
• Sexual orientation
• Disability
• Gender-identity

Some police forces also record hate incidents based on other personal characteristics such as age or appearance.

What Types of Incidents can be a Hate Incident?

There are lots of different types of Hate Incidents. Here are some examples:

• Verbal abuse like name-calling and offensive jokes
• Bullying or intimidation by children, adults, neighbours or strangers
• Physical attacks such as hitting, punching, pushing, spitting
• Threats of violence
• Hoax calls, abusive phone or text messages, hate mail
• Online abuse for example on Facebook or Twitter
• Harm or damage to things such as your home, pet, vehicle
• Graffiti
• Arson
• Throwing rubbish into a garden

When is a Hate Incident also a Hate Crime?

When hate incidents become criminal offences they are known as hate crimes. A criminal offence is something which breaks the law. Any criminal offence can be a hate crime if it was carried out because of hostility or prejudice based on disability, race, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation. When something is classed as a hate crime, the judge can impose a tougher sentence on the offender. Incidents which are based on other personal characteristics, such as age or appearance, are not considered to be hate crimes under the law. You can still report these, but they will not be prosecuted specifically as hate crimes by the police.

Examples of Hate Crimes

Hate crimes could be:

• Assaults
• Criminal damage
• Harassment
• Murder
• Sexual assault
• Theft
• Fraud
• Burglary
• Hate mail

How Common is Hate Crime?

In 2012 there were an estimated 278,000 hate crimes for the five monitored strands.The most commonly reported motivating factor in these hate crime incidents was race, with an average of 154,000 incidents. The second most common motivating factor was religion - 70,000 incidents. The majority of hate crime incidents involved assault and vandalism.

Reporting a Hate Crime

Reporting makes a difference to you, your friends, and your community. By reporting hate crime when it happens, you can help stop it happening to someone else. You will also help the police to better understand the level of hate crime in your local area, and improve the way they deal with it.

If you've experienced a hate incident or crime you can report it to the police. You can also report a hate incident or crime even if it wasnt directed at you. For example, you could be a friend, neighbour, family member, support worker or simply a passer-by.

If you have witnessed or experienced hate crime you can report it in a number of ways:

By phone

• Call 101 or in an emergency dial 999.
• For practical advice and support call 101 and ask to speak to your local hate crime team.
• Call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

In person

• Visit your local police station.
• You can call into a third party reporting centre (i.e Registered Social Landlords offices).

Report online

• Go to True Vision - A hate crime website set up by police forces from across the country.
• CrimeStoppers online - An online form where you can provide information about crime anonymously. 

Role of the Police

The police take hate incidents and crimes seriously. You can be confident that they wont treat you worse because you might be, for example, Hindu, lesbian or have a learning disability. Some areas have special officers to look into hate crimes. They can give you expert advice.

Hate crime : Northumbria Police

Sources of further information

• The Citizens Advice Bureau provide excellent advice about hate crime
• Stop Hate UK provides independent, confidential and accessible reporting and support for victims, witnesses and third parties.

Accessible Information Standard (AIS)

The Accessible Information Standard which aims to make sure that disabled people who are our patients, service users and their carers and parents have access to information that they can understand and any communication support they need.

This includes making sure that people get information in different formats if they need it, such as large print, Braille, embossed, easy read, via email and visual/British Sign Language (BSL) etc.

As part of the standard the Trust MUST do five things:

1. Ask people if they have any information or communication needs, and find out how to meet their needs.
    

2. Record those needs in a set way on patient records.

3. Highlight a person’s file, so it is clear that they have information or communication needs, and clearly explain how these should be met.
    

4. Share information about a person’s needs with other Trust Teams/Departments, NHS and adult social care providers, when they have consent or permission to do so.
    

5. Act to make sure that people get information in an accessible way and communication support if they need it.

We have developed the AIS patient poster using best practice guidance from Newcastle hospitals.  You can access the poster here. 

The Standard aims to support everyone with information and / or communication needs relating to a disability, impairment or sensory loss. This includes, but is not limited to:

• People who are deaf, blind or deafblind;

• People who have hearing and/or visual loss;

• People with a learning disability;

• People who have communication difficulties following a stroke, such as aphasia, or because of a mental health condition.

The Standard says that patients, service users, carers and parents with a disability, impairment or sensory loss should:

• Be able to contact, and be contacted by, services in accessible ways, for example email or text message.

• Get letters and information in formats they can read and understand, for example audio, braille, email or easy read.

• Be supported by a communication professional at appointments if this is needed to support conversation, for example a British Sign Language interpreter.

• Get support from health and care staff and organisations to communicate, for example to lip-read

Find out more here- accessible-info-standard.pdf (nhsproviders.org)

Workforce Race Equality Standard

As part of our work to build an inclusive culture we are pleased to report on the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES).

The WRES requires NHS organisations to demonstrate progress against nine race equality indicators. The report aims to show any differences in how white staff and black and minority ethnic (BME) staff, are treated. This is to help the Trust take action where needed to address this. From 2016, the report has been accompanied by an improvement plan which gives more detail about how progress will be made.

The aim of WRES is to support the career development of BME staff and ensure the Trust workforce is representative of the communities it works in.

WRES Report and Action Plan 2020/2021

Workforce Disability Equality Standard

The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of ten specific measures (metrics) that will enable NHS organisations to compare the experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff.

The implementation of the WDES will enable us to better understand the experiences of our disabled staff. It will support positive change for existing employees and enable a more inclusive environment for disabled people working in the NHS.

WDES 2020/2021

Gender pay reporting

The Gender Pay Gap legislation requires all organisations – public and private – with over 250 employees to publish and report specific figures about their gender pay gap.

The gender pay gap is the difference between the average earnings of men and women, expressed relative to men’s earnings and is being reported by all Trusts in three categories – Hourly, Pay Quartiles, and Bonus Pay.

STSFT Gender Pay Gap report- Up to March 2021

Equality Act (2010) - Public Sector Equality Duty

The Equality Act 2010 (the Act) replaces previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act. The Act’s aim is to simplify the law, remove inconsistencies and make it easier for people to understand and comply with, as well as strengthening the law to help tackle discrimination and inequality. The majority of the Act came into force on 1st October 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty came into force on 5th April 2011. The Equality Duty ensures that all Public Bodies play their part in making society fairer by tackling discrimination and providing equality of opportunity for all.

The Equality Duty is a duty on Public Bodies and others carrying out public functions. It ensures that public bodies consider the needs of all individuals in their day to day work, in shaping policy, in delivering services and in relation to their own employees.

The Equality Duty covers the following protected characteristics:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender Reassignment
• Marriage and Civil Partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race - this includes ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality
• Religion or belief (this includes lack of belief)
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

The Equality Duty has three aims. It requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act

• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it

• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

Equality Delivery System

As part of the Equality Act, public sector organisations must publish evidence to confirm they are meeting the three aims of the Act. The evidence presented by the Trust has been collated as part of the implementation of the Department of Health’s Equality Delivery System (EDS 2). Please see:

EDS2 Report – up to March 2020

EDS2 Report – up to March 2019

The EDS is designed as a tool to be used to help all staff and NHS organisations understand how equality can drive improvements and strengthen the accountability of services to patients and the public. It will help ensure that everyone - patients, public and staff - has a voice in how organisations are performing and where they should improve.

The EDS encourages Trusts to work with their service users, staff and stakeholders to gather and analyse information on equalities, set equality objectives and make the changes required to become better employers and improve how frontline health services deliver good health outcomes for the protected groups.

We use the EDS framework to support us in developing our inclusion objectives which are monitored and reviewed via relevant Board-level committees. Progress is reported to the Trust Board via six-monthly updates and our annual inclusion report.

Staff are kept up to date via the weekly ebulletins, social media and training alongside other regular communication channels.

All of this ensures that inclusion is not just a 'tick box' exercise but something that is embedded in our every day activity. #everydayinclusion

Equality Impact Assessments

We use Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) to help us look at what impact an existing or proposed policy, procedure, practice or service is likely to have on different groups of people. They aim to eliminate discrimination and improve equality. EIAs assess a number of important areas, including race, disability and gender.  If you would like to speak to one of the inclusion team to help with your EIA then please get in touch via the inclusion email: Stsft.Inclusion@nhs.net

Everyday Language Solutions (ELS) provide our Translation and Interpretation service.

Their contact details are: Web: www.everydaylanguagesolutions.co.uk

Email: info@everydaylanguagesolutions.co.uk

Telephone: 01642-603203 Fax: 01642-603403

Out of Hours - Emergency Number (only to be used in the case of an emergency interpretation) 07831356809 

If you would like to arrange a team briefing or training session about how to access, these services and support available from our Translation and Interpretation provider this can be arranged through ELS. These sessions are delivered by staff from Everyday Language Solutions, can be tailored to meet your individual demands (i.e. 20 minute briefing or a more in depth 3 hour training session) and there is no cost for delivery of this service and supporting guidance documents.

ELS Professional User Guide

​​​

We have a suite of resources that we can share with staff, below are some of the most recent examples:

Equality Diversity and Human Rights Week 2023 Summary Report

Staff Network posters- find out more here

The five posters on:

• Hate Racism/ Hate Transphobia 
• No room for Racism poster
• Compasionate respectful and polite language poster
• Patient flags poster
• Civility

Can be found here

Recruitment Value Based and EDI Questions

Equality and Diversity Reading List - find out more here

#everydayinclusion bulletin - April 2023

Dignity and Respect at Work Champions - find out more here

Disability Confident Employer - find out more here

Stonewall’s ‘Diversity Champions’ scheme 2021- find out more here

An Inclusive Language Guide (LGBT+) - Click here

Accessible Information Case Study - AIS Case Study

Everyday Language Solutions - Professional User Guide

Reasonable Adjustments Guidance - Click here

Talking about Disability at Work (ACAS) - Click here

Neurodiversity Toolkit - Click here

WRES 2020 data- http://stsft-intranet.franktesting.co.uk/download_file/view/8036/1005

wds 2020 report

External Resources

ACAS - https://www.acas.org.uk/ 

Access to work- Get support in work if you have a disability or health condition (Access to Work) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Accessible Information Standard- NHS England » Accessible Information Standard

Fawcett Society-  https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/ 

NHS England Reasonable Adjustments- https://www.england.nhs.uk/learning-disabilities/improving-health/reasonable-adjustments/

Stonewall- www.stonewall.org.uk/

Supporting Trans staff and patients guidance- equalityhub.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/BSUH-Support-Trans-Staff-and-Patients-Version-21-1.pdf

Hart Gables - www.hartgables.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/TopTipsFromTransTeens.pdf

The Gender Trust-   gendertrust.org.uk/