Public sector equality duty (PSED) annual review 2022

Contents

1. Introduction
2. The public sector equality duty (PSED)
3. Equality delivery system (EDS2)
4. Gender pay gap report
5. Our people and our communities
6. Participation
7. EDI activity 2021 to 2022
8. Equality diversity and inclusion objectives and priorities
9. Equality objectives 2021 to 2024
10. Conclusion

1 Introduction

Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Trust is a diverse employer and provider of services across Rotherham, Doncaster and Scunthorpe. Our aim is to create a culture of inclusion where everyone feels valued and respected for who they are and what they bring to our organisation. Our equality, diversity and inclusion activity is linked to the NHS people plan, the trust’s people plan and strategic objectives.

Our public sector equality duty (PSED) report highlights the progress we have made in the year of 2022. The last year and indeed 2021, has been one of the most challenging times to operate, but it has further raised the importance of equality, inclusion and diversity at a time when a global pandemic has brought underlying issues to the forefront.

The services we provided during 2021 and 2022 in the different localities:

1.1 Rotherham

• adult mental health
• children’s services
• learning disabilities
• older people’s mental health

1.2 Doncaster

• adult mental health
• children’s services
• community integrated services
• learning disabilities
• forensic services
• older people’s mental health
• drug and alcohol services

1.3 North Lincolnshire

• adult mental health
• children’s services
• community learning disabilities
• older people’s mental health

1.4 RDaSH’s refreshed strategy 2021 to 2023

The strategic plan focuses on our patients, carers, public and colleagues and is a mix of strategic and operational planning to cover the next two years and shows what we are aiming to deliver during that time. We will be focusing heavily on improving safety and quality, you (our people), improving access to our services for patients and improving leadership from “ward to board: board to ward”.

Our plan sets out:

• why we are here, we want to lead the way with our care
• what we want to do, our four strategic ambitions
• how we are going to do it, our seven strategic objectives

These are shown below in our easy-to-understand image.

What this image shows is that we have 4 strategic ambitions made up of 7 strategic objectives:

1.4.1 Strategic ambition 1, safe and effective

• Strategic objective 1, improve the safety and quality of care provided at all times, based on good practice.
• Strategic objective 2, improve the quality of assessment, care planning and record keeping.
• Strategic objective 3, deliver response to COVID-19 pandemic.

1.4.2 Strategic ambition 2, people

• Strategic objective 4, ensure the right people with the right skills deliver care.

1.4.3 Strategic ambition 3, accessible

• Strategic objective 5, reduce waiting times for patients.

1.4.4 Strategic ambition 4, organisation and partnerships

• Strategic objective 6, improve governance of the trust.
• Strategic objective 7, improve leadership from board to ward.

Our people and organisational development strategy has been developed to support our RDaSH refreshed strategy 2021 to 2023. It is aligned with the integrated care system’s workforce strategies, NHS people plan and the NHS 10-year plan.

The two-year plan is focused on our people being empowered, skilled, engaged and responsive and has such principles as equality, diversity and inclusion at its heart. The focus ensures colleague and patient experience are constantly monitored to foster a positive culture which is responsive and supportive should problems be detected and ensure good is shared all in line with our values.

1.5 The general equality duty

The Equality Act 2010 introduced a general equality duty requiring organisations to have due regard in the exercising of their functions. The duties are outlined in section 149 of the act as follows:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the act
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not; and
• foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

This will be achieved by:

• removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics
• taking steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people
• encouraging people from protected groups to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low
• the steps involved in meeting the needs of disabled persons that are different from the needs of persons who are not disabled include steps to take account of disabled persons’ disabilities
• having due regard to the need to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it involves having due regard to the need to tackle prejudice and promote understanding

The protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act are:

• age
• disability
• gender
• gender reassignment
• race
• religion or belief
• sexual orientation
• marriage or civil partnership
• pregnancy and maternity

2 The public sector equality duty (PSED)

The public sector equality duty (PSED), which came into force on 6 April 2011, places additional specific duties on public authorities including NHS trusts. Two such duties are a requirement on public authorities to:

1. publish sufficient information to demonstrate compliance with the general equality duty by 31 January 2012 and thereafter annually
2. prepare and publish 1 or more equality objectives by 6 April 2012 and no more than four years thereafter

The published information is to include:

• information on the effect that policies and practices have had on employees, service users and others from the protected groups
• evidence of the analysis undertaken to establish whether their policies and practices will (or have) furthered the three equality aims in the general equality duty
• details of information used in that analysis
• details of engagement with people with an interest in the aims of the duty

3 Equality delivery system (EDS2)

NHS EDS2 aims:

• better health outcomes for all
• improved patient access and experience
• empowered, engaged and well-supported staff
• inclusive leadership at all levels

The NHS equality delivery system (EDS) was introduced nationally by the NHS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Council as an optional tool for both current and emerging NHS organisations to support them their general public sector equality duties as required by section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. Compliance with the below duties is across the 9 protected characteristics under the Equality Act.

The NHS has also developed standards for two areas, race and disability. The race focused standard is the workforce race equality standard (WRES) and the disability standard is known as the workforce disability equality standard (WDES). Both reports are available on the trust’s equality, diversity and inclusion page.

4 Gender pay gap report

In accordance with the Equality Act 2010 (gender pay gap information) Regulations 2017, employers with 250 or more employees are required to publish information on the pay gap between male and female employees as of 31 March each year. This information must be published on the employer’s website.

The gender pay gap report is based on a snapshot date of pay of 31 March 2021. Our data can be compared to other organisations by using the government gender pay gap reporting portal (opens in a new window).

The analysis of the trust’s gender pay gap data informs our gender pay gap action plan which has been created to address the disparities. Our data shows an improvement compared to previous years but indicates areas where improvements are required.

The gender pay gap is different to equal pay. Equal pay relates to men and women receiving equal pay for equal work. The gender pay gap is a measure of any disparity in pay between the average earnings of male and female employees.

5 Our people and our communities

The people of RDaSH and the people who access our services are diverse and we are striving to understand the diversity of our people and the best and most appropriate way to meet their needs. As an organisation we are continually working towards creating a knowledge base which supports our people and communities.

In this section we provide internal information regarding our people, this data is accurate as at September 2021. This information supports further analysis and the implementation of interventions to ensure that equity is given to all our people, they represent the communities we serve and diversity is supported throughout the organisation.

Census details are taken from the 2011 National Census, the 2021 census details will only be available in May 2022.

The population of the localities we serve has a high representation of people who have defined their ethnic origin as white, our workforce demographics are reflective of this. Comparing population demographics with internal demographics shows that the trust is under-represented from people with ‘mixed’ and ‘Asian’ ethnic origins but over-represented from people who have a ‘black’ ethnic origin. The trust’s workforce race equality action plan addresses areas to improve these statistics.

The trust provides services in Rotherham, Doncaster and North Lincolnshire. Therefore, the Office for National Statistics data used for benchmarking in this report will be the average population data for those areas as detailed in the 2011 census information and is demonstrated in the table above.

5.1 Age

5.1.1 The age of the population served by the trust

The 2011 census indicated that there are slightly more women than men. In age groups 45 to 59 there are slightly more men than women but in older age groups there are more women than men because life expectancy for women is slightly better than for men.

5.1.2 Age of people who work in RDaSH

The number of younger people working in our services decreased in the 16 to 20 age range however, there was an increase in the 21 to 25 age group. The number of staff over 65 has increased since 2020. The percentage of staff in the 46 to 50 and 51 to 55 age groups has also slightly decreased. Other age groups remain relatively static.

5.2 Disability

5.2.1 Disability and people who work in our trust

In March 2020 the first national workforce disability equality standard (WDES) report was published. This allows us for the first time to compare areas of workforce disability to a national picture. Our organisation published its third WDES report in October 2021 and this is published separately.

Although our declaration rates are relatively good they have remained static despite a specific focus on this area in 2020 to 2021 including producing guidance for staff about how to change their record using the electronic staff record (ESR) self-service.

The WDES average of declared disability in the national report is broken down by clinical and non-clinical and indicates that 3.6% of non-clinical and 2.9% of clinical staff declared disability with a range across organisations. Our organisation figure of 5.4% (for all staff) in 2021 therefore appears positive. The number of staff who have declared they have a disability has increased since 2020 (increase of 0.3%)

In 2021 the trust received 492 applications (6.9%) from applicants with a disability, of which 237 (48.2%) were shortlisted of the 237 shortlisted, 21 (4.2%) were offered positions and started with the trust.

In 2020 the trust received 321 applications (6.4%) from applicants with a disability, of which 138 (43%) were shortlisted of the 138 shortlisted, 14 (4.3%) were offered positions and started with the trust.

5.3 Protected characteristic of sex

Sex and gender are different and only some of the data we are able to collect will have been collected based on gender, where there may not be an option other than male or female.

The 2011 census indicated that overall, there were slightly more women in the communities we serve than men.

5.3.1 The gender of people in our trust

The breakdown of employees by gender remains at a rounded figure of 84% women and 16% men. There is no option in the national electronic staff record to record ‘other’ at the moment however we understand that a change to this is being planned, as soon as this is available we will provide information to our staff so they can change their details if they wish.

Each year we produce and publish a full report and action plan on the gender pay gap and our last report that contained data for 2020 was published in March 2021. Our data can be compared to other organisations by using the government gender pay gap reporting portal (opens in a new window) and our gender pay gap report can be found on our website.

5.4 Sexual orientation

5.4.1 Sexual orientation of the population

The Office of National Statistic (ONS) published updated data on sexual orientation (opens in a new window) in March 2020. This reported that the proportion of the UK population aged 16 years and over identifying as heterosexual or straight had decreased from 95.3% in 2014 to 94.6% in 2018 and that the proportion identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) increased from 1.6% in 2014 to 2.2% in 2018.

This percentage varies by region and for our region there has been a move from an estimate of 1.4% in 2014 to 2.3% in 2018.

5.4.2 Sexual orientation of people who work in our trust

The profile of the trust in relation to sexual orientation has remained relatively unchanged since 2020 apart from the increase of 3.6% increase in heterosexual or straight and an improvement of 4% in ‘undisclosed’ which was a new category introduced in 2020.

26.4% of people employed within RDaSH have not shared their sexual orientation status therefore further work around equality monitoring needs implementing within the trust to address this issue and encourage and support colleagues to feel comfortable and confident in doing this.

In 2021 the trust received 552 (7.3%) applications from applicants who were not ‘heterosexual’ or ‘undisclosed’ compared to 324 (6.5%) applications in 2020. Of the 324 applicants, 177 (6.6%) were shortlisted compared to 90 (6.6%) in 2020. Of the 177 shortlisted, 12 (4.9%) started with the Trust which is a decrease of 5.1% from 2020.

Within the employee relations section (disciplinary, grievance and harassment), there are no issues highlighted in relation to gender.

5.5 Race

5.5.1 Ethnicity of the people who work in our trust

The table below shows the percentages of staff by ethnicity who are employed by the trust. Arab and Gypsy or Irish Traveller are not available in the NHS electronic staff record (ESR) which is why there is no figure for these two groups. More detail can be found in the workforce race equality standard report published in October 2021.

100% of trust staff have their ethnicity recorded on ESR. The 86 staff under the ‘Not Known’ category are staff who do not wish to declare their ethnic origin. The trust continues to encourage staff to update their data on ESR and this has resulted in a decrease of ‘Not Known’ from September 2020 (101).

New starter information, including ethnicity, is now automatically downloaded from successful applicants’ application forms from NHS jobs to ESR which significantly improves the data capture of equality and diversity information.

The trust provides services in Rotherham, Doncaster and North Lincolnshire. Therefore, the Office for National Statistics data used for benchmarking in this report will be the average population data for those areas as detailed in the 2011 census information.

This is as follows:

5.6 Religion or belief

Religion or belief is a protected characteristic and this includes people who have no belief.

As can be seen from the table above, the percentage of staff in each of the religious belief categories has remained relatively static between 2020 and 2021. The ‘staff in post’ percentage figures are comparable with the national census figures apart from the low number of ‘Islam’ and high number of ‘undisclosed’.

In 2021 the trust received 461 (6.5%) applications from applicants who indicated their religious belief was non-Christian, not including ‘atheism’,’ other’ or ‘undisclosed’. Of those, 71 were shortlisted (17%) and 7 joined the trust as new starters (9.9%).

In 2019 the trust received 360 applications from applicants who indicated their religious belief was non-Christian (6%), not including ‘atheism, ‘other’ or ‘undisclosed’. Of those, 85 were shortlisted (3.2%) and 5 joined the trust as new starters (2.8%).

There were no issues raised with the trust in relation to discrimination for any of the leavers.

Within the employee relations section (disciplinary, grievance and harassment), there are no issues highlighted in relation to religious belief.

6 Participation

RDaSH has developed a participation framework which sets out best practice principles for colleagues to follow to encourage meaningful and successful participation with patients, people who access our services, carers, members and partners. It also informs those who use our services and work with us what to expect.

The framework supports the development of a culture where valuing the expertise and experiences of everybody matters and is pivotal to the success of service delivery. The framework also seeks to enable inclusive participation (which will influence the reduction of health inequalities) working in partnership and making decisions together that will help support high quality services.

Greater participation in healthcare contributes to improved health outcomes. Patients, carers and the public want to be involved in their healthcare decision-making process and so it is important to engage, involve, consult and co-produce.

We have a 24-month contract with our participation partner, The People Focused Group (PFG) who directly engage with people who have lived experience of accessing and using RDaSH services, and the public for whom such services exist, this is the cornerstone of continuous improvement. We want to know what matters to people, to receive feedback, to learn from and share experience, and to embed experienced based co-design within each of our services.

6.1 Participation framework

A participation framework was developed in 2021 which was co-produced in partnership with our patients, carers, colleagues, PFG and local communities.

Our work began with several ‘conversations’ to find out what people really thought about the services they accessed and through listening to how we could make things work better for them. These conversations provided us with valuable feedback, which contributed to further workshops where we listened and talked about what ‘really mattered’ which was pivotal in formulating specific actions linked to our framework.

This framework has been developed to ensure that there is a process to support colleagues in engaging with patients and the public in service design and delivery in a clear and defined manner which is appropriate, equitable and inclusive for our diverse communities.

The aim of the participation framework is to achieve effective patient and public participation across all RDaSH services to ensure patients are partners and enablers in the co-design and co-production of service change and continue to influence the delivery of safe and effective services for future development of service provision.

We as a trust have a duty of care to promote the health and wellbeing of our patients, carers and the populations we serve as an organisation.

The principle of section 242 of the National Health Service act 2006 (amended by the Local Government and Public Participation in health act 2007) is that, by law we as a trust must ensure that patients and, or the public are involved in decisions that affect the planning and delivery of NHS services.

Greater participation in healthcare contributes to improved health outcomes. Patients, carers and the public want to be involved in their healthcare decision-making process and so it is important to engage, involve, consult and co-produce.

Being involved in improving the quality of healthcare can bring health benefits to patients and their families through the satisfaction of having influenced care, being listened to, gaining further insight into other issues, and the social interaction and engaging that participation. Patient and public participation also influences the necessary changes required to improve service delivery which affects health outcomes and satisfaction.

6.2 Patient and public participation

The trust’s participation work was integrated into the EDI portfolio in 2020. An advantage of this new approach assists the trust in meeting the equality delivery system 2 goals.

Better health outcomes and Improved patient access and experience.

The trust’s main participation work includes the areas below with the team also supporting services with specific areas of work. Whilst specific PSED objectives are designed to focus on the above two goals, non-specific evidence is also collated to aid assessment.

The framework consists of:

• participation (people focussed group)
• engagement events
• health inequalities
• partnership working and community engagement
• community mental health transformation (CMHT)
• peer support framework

6.3 Inclusive recruitment

The trust recognises the importance of including colleagues and people who use our services in our recruitment processes. This is carried out on a local level within services and departments by including people with lived experience in recruitment panels. Colleagues from our three staff networks and patients and carers have been involved in stakeholder recruitment sessions as part of the interview process for senior leaders. This enables us to ensure that lived experience is included in the decision-making process.

7 EDI activity 2021 to 2022

The equality, diversity, inclusion and participation (EDIP) team has hosted a variety of engagement events and training sessions and given the restraints that the pandemic has placed on face-to-face events have adapted and continued to meet the needs of colleagues via virtual platforms. The staff networks have also continued to meet virtually which has been a vital platform of support for our colleagues throughout the pandemic.

Members of the staff networks have supported events for black history, disability and LGBTQ+ months and have been proactive with influencing work in the trust with reviewing language in policies, creating a myth-busting guide, drafting and implementing the Health Passport for our colleagues with a disability or long-term health condition along with a RESPECT charter and a microaggression’s awareness poster.

7.1 EDI and P workstream

The purpose of the EDI and P workstream is to ensure that the trust is complying with the Equality Act 2010, implementing mandatory and statutory requirements, the participation framework and any other relevant standards, charters and strategies. This includes ensuring that the work required to adhere to the above is embedded throughout the organisation.

The workstream has oversight of all operational EDI and P work identifying issues for patients, colleagues and leads and then issues are analysed and resolved working collaboratively to find solutions. It has an oversight of all activity and will share and implement solutions from a diverse range of contributors.

7.2 Reverse mentoring programme

As part of the trust’s commitment to develop an inclusive culture, we have developed an equality, diversity and inclusion reverse mentoring programme. Reverse mentoring aims to educate leaders in diversity issues and expose them to challenging dialogue which they might not otherwise encounter.

The purpose of the programme is to promote understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion issues, and to provide opportunities for those in protected groups to challenge and influence the trust based on their lived experiences.

• Mentees for cohort 1 and 2 were members of our trust board.
• Mentors for cohort 1 were colleagues from our ethnic minority workforce, cohort 2 were colleagues from our workforce who have a disability or long-term health condition.

7.2.1 Outcomes

It is anticipated that the principal outcomes from the scheme will be:

• give leaders an understanding to any barriers to the successful recruitment, development, progression and experience of colleagues, enabling those leaders to create actions to remove such barriers. The programme also purposes to open up our leader’s worlds, change their world views, and enable them to listen, empathise and act
• reverse mentoring gives colleagues the development opportunity to mentor a senior leader and to have their voices heard and experiences understood at a senior level. It provides them with opportunities to develop their interpersonal and mentoring skills and to connect with someone in a leadership position
• for both mentors and mentees, there is an opportunity to develop a long-lasting relationship which lasts beyond the end of the programme
• identified actions established within the partnerships can be raised with the EDIP workstream to address on a wider scale

7.3 Rainbow badge training

The rainbow badge initiative has a simple objective to make a positive difference by promoting a message of inclusion. The badge itself is intended to be a simple visual symbol identifying its wearer as someone who a LGBTQ+ person can feel comfortable talking to about issues relating to sexuality or gender identity. It shows that the wearer is there to listen without judgement and signpost to further support if needed.

There have been 5 rainbow badge sessions held throughout 2021 with a total of 103 attendees.

7.4 Working with transgender and gender diverse communities

Online professional level education and training sessions designed to increase the knowledge and concepts of gender identity and gender expression, and the diverse ways in which these can manifest. Through increased understanding, medical and health providers, hospital and medical clinics, and all other care providers who work with or provide services for those who are transgender and, or gender non-conforming can advance their skills in addressing the needs of these diverse populations.

There have been 5 sessions held throughout 2021 with a total of 130 attendees.

7.5 Unconscious bias

We recognise that unconscious bias training should not be used as an isolated intervention to enable people to explore their values, beliefs and behaviour. This type of training is a small but important part of a number of improvement initiatives aimed at increasing self-awareness and creating an inclusive culture.

The training provided through our membership with the employers network for equality and inclusion (ENEI) aims to:

• highlight people’s roles and responsibilities in creating an inclusive
  environment
• explore how to recognise bias behaviours and the impacts or effects including banter
• Provide pre-session material
• enable people to understand the impact on our people that then flows through to patients, the same duty of care of our patients must be experienced by colleagues
• explore patterns and associations across the organisation and share examples that are being lived in the organisation

There have been 2 sessions held throughout 2021 with a total of 31 attendees.

7.6 Cultural competence training

People who use our services and our colleagues come from many different backgrounds and to be able to better understand this ENEI deliver our cultural competence training. It covers:

• the importance of cultural intelligence and cultural competence
• leverage the six signature traits in describing key traits and importance of cultural intelligence within that
• understanding the language of inclusion and the need to name it to cure it; let’s understand the definitions as well as the experiences
• the importance of allyship
• understanding of different cultures and relationship with different beliefs
• aligning it to what has been learned in UB session and how stereotypes can be experiences
• supporting people in understanding their own level of cultural intelligence and competence

There has been 1 session held in 2021 with a total of 14 attendees.

7.7 Neurodiversity in the workplace for managers

RDaSH recognises the benefits of having a diverse workforce and that embracing difference improves performance. This workshop is aimed at increasing managers’ understanding of neurodiversity and the benefits it brings to the workplace and service delivery.

It covers:

• power of difference
• power of neurodiversity
• creating an environment that supports people with neuro-diverse conditions
• don’t focus on disability, but rather on the strengths
• includes reasonable adjustments and responsibility or obligations  including access to work
• Educate managers on the benefits and value of neuro-diverse employees
• Make it practical action based, interactive and thought provoking

There have been 2 sessions held throughout 2021 with a total of 25 attendees.

7.8 Community engagement and health inequalities conference

On 10th June 2021 a conference was held to increase and improve the understanding of health inequalities in our local communities for colleagues. The conference covered how to engage with our communities and understand the impact of health inequalities on people and services, improve health inequalities, understand the make-up of our localities and learn about contacts of support.

7.8.1 Topics included

7.8.1.1 What can we do to address health inequalities

Speaker, Ben Holden (Public health registrar and leadership fellow).

7.8.1.2 Partnership working in Doncaster, Rotherham and North Lincolnshire

Speakers, Andrew Goodall (health watch Doncaster), Hannah Holden (health watch North Lincolnshire) and Lesley Cooper (health watch Rotherham).

7.8.1.3 African or African mental health

Speaker, David Bussue (Service director SACMHA Health and Social Care).

7.8.1.4 Digital exclusion

Speaker, Sayed Ahmed (Patient experience lead, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust).

7.8.1.5 Panel Discussion, lived experiences  (‘The journey’)

Speakers, People Focussed Group.

7.8.1.6 Community engagement

Speaker, Rachel Mather (Public participation manager at NHS England’s Experience, Participation and Equalities team, Leeds).

7.8.1.7 Asylum seekers and refugees, tackling hate crime

Speaker, Azizzum Akhtar (Chief executive, Rotherham Ethnic Minority Alliance (REMA)).

7.8.1.8 Doncaster council’s learning disability strategy

Speaker, Julia King (Public health, leisure and strategic  commissioning, Doncaster MBC).

7.8.1.9 LGBTQ+ health inequalities

Speaker, Jessica Lynn (Kinsey Institute global ambassador).

7.9 Staff networks

The trust has three staff networks:

1. LGBTQ+
2. Disability and Wellbeing (DAWN)
3. Race and Cultural Heritage network (REaCH)

These networks are important platforms of support for colleagues which carry out trust business and inform on inclusive practices.

The chairs of the networks hold a position on the trust’s EDI and P workstream which has operational overview of EDI and P within the trust.

The staff networks offer an effective mechanism for engaging and supporting colleagues from protected characteristic backgrounds, they act as a forum for colleagues to discuss their experiences, provide insight into unseen barriers, devise solutions to help improve the experiences of those colleagues and others and offer peer support.

The staff network as a collective can be utilised to manage and harness the potential of an increasingly diverse workforce and inform and improve practices influencing both colleagues and patient care.

The staff network offers a supportive and safe space to have discussions on issues affecting our diverse colleagues. It also provides networking opportunities to colleagues who may not traditionally have access to wider network links.

Monitor differences between sexual orientation and gender identity and will work proactively to address these.

The implementation of staff networks has supported RDaSH in creating a culture of inclusivity and demonstrates to colleagues, service users, relatives and carers that RDaSH treats everyone with respect and dignity and values who they are and their contribution. Research shows that a motivated, included and valued workforce supports the delivery of high-quality care, increased patient satisfaction and improved patient safety.

7.9.1 Staff network annual general meeting (AGM)

The staff networks first annual general meeting (AGM) was held on 20 May 2021 the meeting brought together the three networks within the context of the NHS People’s Plan and the theme of belonging.

Cherron Inko-Tariah, author of the Incredible Power of Staff Networks was the keynote speaker, who facilitated a session which focused on the benefits of belonging to a staff network, how to move them forward to be more successful and the roles of sponsors beyond attending meetings.

The networks sponsors gave a short talk about their roles in supporting the networks and their commitment to continue to do so. Alan Lockwood, chair and Jo McDonough, director of strategy shared their experiences and learning from being mentees on the trust’s reverse mentoring programme.

The chairs and participants asked questions and raised issues around the following areas:

1. protected time for committee members
2. funding for each network
3. allyship
4. a replacement sponsor for the REaCH staff network

In response to point 1:

• a policy has been developed and published giving guidance on ‘protected time’ for colleagues wishing to attend the networks
• allyship will be discussed and addressed with the staff networks
• Nicola McIntosh will replace Steve Hackett as the REaCH staff networks sponsor
• Kathryn pledged the trust’s continued commitment to support the staff networks, confirming the value they have within the organisation and reasserted the support in taking them forward

7.10 Culture charter 2021

Our culture charter represents the culture we want and how we will achieve it, by having a just, compassionate, inclusive, learning and accountable culture that values people as its heart. It is our blueprint, a representation of what we mean when we talk about culture and compassion here at RDaSH.

7.10.1 Talent management and succession planning

The NHS people plan sets out the support people can expect from the NHS as a modern employer. This is framed around the broad themes of creating a healthy, inclusive, and compassionate culture, enabling great development and offering fulfilling careers, where everyone feels they have voice, control, and influence. All organisations are required to contribute to ICS people plans and prepare to engage in a system wide approach to talent management and succession planning.

The NHS People Plan emphasises the importance of a positive and inclusive culture and the need to urgently intensify our efforts to ensure our teams and organisations, particularly the senior leadership of the NHS, demonstrably reflect the diversity of the communities that they serve by making progress against the 10-year leadership equality ambition that reflects the Prime Minister’s pledge around race equality.

The RDaSH talent management programme was launched in March 2021 with a communications countdown, a dedicated intranet page, briefing sessions at care group meetings and workshops for managers.

During the summer months all staff had the opportunity to find out more about the programme by responding to a range of articles, posts and a video promoted through trust communications and on the IHub (information hub).

An ‘Ask me Anything’ event was held led by the People and Organisational Development Director, Nicola McIntosh.

Identified priority groups for action including colleagues from ethnic diverse groups. Career workshops have been held with 14 workshops for managers (91 attendees) and 6 workshops for colleagues (55 attendees) with a further 9 training sessions booked for future dates.

Career conversations continue with a target of 188 staff focusing on 42 from target audience (band 5 nurses or REaCH). Talent panels have commenced.

Ethnic diverse and disabled colleagues have been offered career and interview skills coaching through their staff network groups. To date 12 ethnically diverse colleagues have taken up this offer. Five of these colleagues are participating in the ICS inclusive cultures partnership programme.

The use of positive action for ethnically diverse colleagues and colleagues from other protected characteristic groups can be built into the talent management programme as part of a joined-up approach across the people and organisational development directorate and beyond. This is identified as a need in the WRES and WDES action plans and by NHS England or Improvement.

8 Equality diversity and inclusion objectives and priorities

NHS Organisations have a statutory requirement to prepare and publish equality objectives in support of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) every four years. This requirement arose from the Equality Act 2010 (specific duties) regulations 2011.

The Equality Act guidance on publishing equality objectives  recommends that NHS organisations use the Equality Delivery System 2 (EDS2) and choose around 4 or 5 equality objectives, at least one per EDS2 goal.

The trust’s equality objectives have been developed to advance the trust’s commitment to equality and diversity and ensure compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and the Equality Delivery System (2) (EDS2). Overarching trust objectives have been identified to progress EDI and P across all the trust’s services. One individual specific objective has been identified per individual care group which ensures specific focus on a priority area.

8.1 Equality objectives 2021 to 2024

8.1.1 Objective 1, trust-wide objective

8.1.1.4 Progress to date

Early analysis of our gender pay gap has enabled the trust to identify that our data has improved significantly.  Comparing our 2020 data, the trust is already starting at a low position compared to other trusts and has continuously improved over the past 2 years.

There has also been a significant improvement in relation to band 8a to 9 posts, with a reduction from 5.0% to 3.7%.

Data in relation to specific staff groups show two areas which require further work:

• professional and technical staff which include psychological therapy staff, pharmacy, social workers and chaplaincy
• admin and clerical staff

8.1.2 Objective 2, trust-wide objective

8.1.2.4 Progress to date

The trust’s Communication team communicate throughout the trust about the benefits of joining a staff network and also support their work by:

• disseminating information via daily bulletins
• producing articles in Trust Matters
• creating video logs
• attending meetings as and when required

The chief executive co-chaired the trust’s staff network annual general meeting held in May 2020 responding directly to the networks questions regarding:

• protected time for committee members
• continued executive sponsorship
• a staff networks budget

A standing operating procedure has been approved to support committee members carrying out their roles and colleagues attending the network meetings.

Members of the EDI and P workstream have promoted the staff networks within their areas of work.

Colleagues engage with the networks to obtain their views on policies and practices. Members of the networks are invited to take part in recruitment assessments for senior leaders to ensure they are involved in decision-making.

The EDI and P team continue to promote the networks and have re-designed and disseminated posters communicating the dates of the meetings.

8.1.3 Objective 3, trust-wide objective

8.1.3.4 Progress to date

• New concepts for the standard and easy read YOC forms in development with EDIP team contributing as part of the working group. Patient experience and EDIP Team have also worked with PFG to co-produce an updated version of the patient experience questionnaire on the Tenable app. This is currently being trialled on inpatient units and is expected to go live on the app in Q1 2022/2023 as part of the inpatient experience strategy.
• An options appraisal is near completion for third party provider to partner with the trust to manage and distribute the YOC and other patient surveys. This work will commence in April with an expected relaunch of the form in Q1 2022/2023.
• The inpatient experience strategy will be built on an admission to discharge model and capture feedback at different stages of the patient journey to drive quality service improvement, this is being developed via the working group and is expected to launch Q1/Q2 2022/2023.
• Patient experience is also working with the nursing and quality and improvement teams to further develop the organisational learning framework for the trust and establish a new set of shared learning processes across all services and localities

8.1.4 Objective 4, trust-wide objective

8.1.4.4 Progress to date

• RDaSH implemented the NHS rainbow badge in September 2019 and accompanied this with a short training session to raise awareness of LGBTQ inclusion. To date we have held 19 sessions and a total of 373 colleagues have attended from across the trust, awareness sessions are continuing throughout 2022 and continue to be fully booked in advance.
• The EDIP team have been working closely with Jessica Lynn, consultant to deliver transgender awareness training. The working with transgender and gender diverse communities is being delivered virtually on a bi-monthly basis each session is well attended with a total of 396 colleagues attending from across the trust since March 2021.
• A myth-busting guide has been developed to try and raise awareness of the myths that can surround equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) that prevail in the workplace. These can range from what EDI means, its benefits and the risks associated with discrimination are areas of debate. Promoting understanding amongst colleagues is an important step to ensure that where a gap of understanding has been identified this is filled, and any misconceptions are clarified.

8.1.5 Objective 5, trust-wide objective

8.1.5.4 Progress to date

The EDIP workstream DAWN meeting and REaCH network have over-viewed the data analysis, outcome and co-production of the associated action plans.

Ethnic minority and disabled colleagues have been offered career and interview skills coaching through their staff network groups. To date 12 ethnic minority or REaCH colleagues have taken up this offer. 5 of these colleagues are participating in the ICS inclusive cultures partnership programme.

The trust’s communication team regularly publicise information relating to racial equality events, training and webinars. The improvement and culture team hold Schwartz rounds on the theme of racism and disability.

The chief executive has enabled the networks to take over their Friday email communication for black and LGBTQ+, disability history months promoting the themes of ‘Proud to Be’ and hidden disabilities.

8.1.6 Objective 6, trust-wide objective

8.1.6.4 Progress to date

As part of the trust’s commitment to develop an inclusive culture, we have developed an equality, diversity and inclusion reverse mentoring programme. Reverse mentoring aims to educate leaders in diversity issues and expose them to challenging dialogue which they might not otherwise encounter.

The purpose of the programme is to promote understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion issues, and to provide opportunities for those in protected groups to challenge and influence the trust based on their lived experiences. Cohort 1 for ethnic diverse colleagues took place in 2020/2021 and Cohort 2 for our disabled colleagues was held September 2021 to April 2022.

8.1.7 Objective 7, trust-wide objective

8.1.7.4 Progress to date

The chaplaincy team have supported staff who are feeling particularly overwhelmed due to the COVID-19 situation. This is very similar to the emotions felt by staff during the lockdown. We often hear from staff in our meetings that they feel physically tired and emotionally drained. The limitation of communal spaces and the impact of social distancing has made break times, in some situations a lonely experience.

Staff continue to engage with chaplains for spiritual and pastoral support.

• Chaplains are also working with Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals supporting patients via the out of hours on call rota.
• Information regarding any faith services or how people can watch these are shared via communications team and made available on the public website. We have made available digital religious services on the trust’s YouTube channel and can offer virtual prayers and other faith related services.
• The spiritual care centre offers services to all religions, faiths and beliefs including the non-religious or those not associated with any faith group. Recently we had our Diwali online event where we spoke about the importance of light from our diverse backgrounds. Our spiritual care team also promote information and awareness for colleagues and people who use our services leading up to and during Ramadan and ensure that the prayer room is fully accessible.
• The spiritual care team continues to work with wards and services to ensure that people are supported in these difficult times. we currently have one chaplain working at the Woodlands site one day a week, Great Oaks and between the other three chaplains Tickhill Road and Swallownest Court are visited.
• Chaplains also visit community patients and actively engage with their care plans and are also involved in many multi-disciplinary team meetings when discussing patient care plans and offer support via this channel.
• The chaplains are involved with the trust’s ethics committee and use this opportunity to contribute to some of the wider decisions regarding patient and staff wellbeing.

8.1.8 Objective 8, trust-wide objective

8.1.8.4 Progress to date

• Deaf awareness champions have been nominated and are attending the training hosted by the trust’s deaf awareness CPN.
• Stakeholder events have been organised to ensure any persons that may have or have a diagnosed learning disability have the same access to services as those not in seldom groups.
• All people that access services have a full needs assessment completed. This is standard practice within the care group to ensure accessible information, reasonable adjustments such as longer appointments and spiritual needs are met but very much individualised and tailored to their needs.
• Inpatient wards are now holding weekly patient experience groups.
• As part of our inclusive recruitment process, we are inviting people who use are services to sit on interview panels.

8.1.9 Objective 9, Doncaster care group

8.1.9.4 Progress to date

• A new peer mentor and former user of our service supported the service by attending Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council’s scrutiny council with a senior worker from aspire to discuss what is working well in service and gaps in service with councillors to identify future developments.
• Two staff health and wellbeing champions have been nominated in the service. The champions will be presented this new role at our whole service meeting in December 2021 and worked with staff to gain ideas of how to better support the staff team in terms of their own health and wellbeing. A massage chair has already been purchased for the staff area in the service.
• A film has been completed showing our signage from the entrance to learning disability outpatients.
• Doncaster care group worked closely with the RDaSH estates team and we now have the traffic light icon on our signage so that it can be recognised rather than the writing as some individuals with learning disabilities are unable to read.
• The adult mental health unit held a pilot project with PFG which commenced in January 2022 with the aim of seeking inpatient feedback by people with lived experience of mental health issues, who volunteer with people focused group (PFG).
• Deaf awareness champions have been set up across the trust and are undergoing training.
• We work with the police, wider multi-disciplinary team and stakeholders to ensure any persons that may have or has a diagnosed learning disability has the same access to services as those not in hard-to-reach groups.
• We are working with wider services and stakeholders to have them acknowledge that individuals have the same rights as non-learning-disabled individuals such as access to mainstream mental health services, supporting other areas with making reasonable adjustments and individualised plans of care and support. We meet monthly with the CCG and local authority to highlight needs, gaps in services and plan how we will meet these.

8.1.10 Objective 10, all care groups

8.1.10.4 Progress to date

• 20 Deaf Awareness Champions have been set up across the trust and are undergoing training.

8.1.11 Objective 11, Rotherham care group

8.1.11.4 Progress to date

• Your opinion counts: currently a paper form is sent out routinely with discharge letters. a standard feedback form is posted to individuals with a SAE for them to return it completed. Comments are passed to the practitioner(s) and team manager for review and discussion. They may also be discussed in team meetings, but processes are currently informal.
• Patients are regularly involved in structured judgement review meetings.
• Peer support workers from local advocacy group are working within the team.
• There is a partnership board including carers and people who use our services.
• Individual discussions feeding back patient experience in supervision and team meetings and are recorded in supervision notes and meeting minutes.
• Regular reflective practice sessions on topics are held.
• Any PAL’s contact is relayed to all concerned, discussed in full and a response formulated in a timely manner. Any complaints are discussed both with the individual(s) and with the team to highlight any areas for learning or improvement.
• IR1s are proactively managed daily and where there have been or are incidents of a racial nature these are actioned immediately.
• Staff direct support from the immediate ward manager and wider clinical team and associate nurse director contact.
• Openness and support is directly offered from a triumvirate perspective and the offer 1-to-1 is always made available.
• Support and encouragement to the staff member is made to report any such incidents and this is supported by the internal IR1 reporting and via 111 to the police with a clear position that RDaSH does not condone this behaviour within its services.
• Promotional and information is made available for the staff networks for peer support a focus of a healthy work environment.

8.1.12 Objective 12, Children’s care group

8.1.12.4 Progress to date

• Doncaster and Rotherham CAMHS have employed a patient engagement and participation worker to work with and engage with seldom heard groups.
• Staff from across all localities have been encouraged to engage with the reach network, LGBTQ+ network, DAWN network and participate in the reverse mentoring programme.
• Individualised risk assessments and health passports have been encouraged to be undertaken for all staff across all localities who have a protected characteristic. Where required reasonable adjustments have been made to support staff with an extensive flexible working offer. Discrimination is regularly discussed in supervisions and team meetings to create an open culture.

9 Conclusion

The 2022 PSED annual review report provides an update on information collected from the trust’s four care groups and corporate services and demonstrates how they promote EDIP, the systems of support for our people. These areas are linked to the equality, diversity and inclusion work that the trust carries out to ensure that it meets its legal obligations and the EDS2.

Our equality objectives were co-produced in 2021 and set the priorities for 4 years for the trust within the context of the current social and economic climate. The trust monitors its progress via its EDIP workstream and people and organisational development committee.

The trust continues to work towards creating a more inclusive environment that values and respects the identity of all our people whilst harnessing their full potential. We aim to ensure that we provide sensitive, appropriate and accessible services so that people who use our services have the best possible health outcomes. We acknowledge that there is still work to do and will continually strive to be the best employer and provider of services.

We believe that the wealth of information contained within this review report demonstrates the significant progress made by the trust whilst operating in a challenging time for our people and those who use our services.

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Document control

• Prepared by: Equality, diversity and inclusion team.
• Date: March 2022.

Page last reviewed: September 23, 2024
Next review due: September 23, 2025

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