Equality and diversity

We are dedicated to creating a culture of belonging and supporting our diverse service users, colleagues and communities.

We’re on a journey with our equality, diversity and inclusion work and recognise there are areas of improvement which we continue to work on.

Equality, diversity and inclusion is something we think about in everything we do. We are constantly holding a mirror against who we are, and challenging behaviours and attitudes to embed meaningful actions which make a change. This is everyone’s business, in every role across our organisation.

Recent events have sadly shown that racial injustices still exist within our society. The murder of George Floyd and the events which followed, and the disproportionate impact of covid on our Black, Asian and minority ethnic population has highlighted that racism is poisoning our society, process and systems.

Now is the time to take action. We can’t sit back and simply do nothing.

Our key areas of focus

• Ensure that the equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, principles and practice are embedded into the trust and assurance arrangements at every level in the Trust
• Continued improvement of service provision and patient care
• Improved data collection and information
• Ensure we meet the statutory compliance and promote workforce and equality and diversity matters
• Ensure we deliver core and essential training

Human Rights, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

The Gateshead Health Human Rights, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2023/24 – 2025/2026 is a crucial focus for Gateshead Health. The aim is to foster a diverse, inclusive, and engaged culture. We are committed to being an inclusive healthcare provider and employer, aligning with NHS and Trust values.

Recognising that everyone is different, we will prioritise meeting the unique needs of patients, people, and the public.

Equality, diversity and inclusion strategy (pdf)

Action plan for 2020 to 2024

This action plan spans four years from 2020 to 2024 and covers the actions that the trust will undertake aligned to:

• WRES – Workforce Race Equality Standard
• WDES – Workforce Disability Equality Standard
• GPG – Gender Pay Gap
• PSED – Public Sector Equality Duty
• EDS – Equality Delivery System

Wres Wdes report – Update following May 2024 paper (1MB pdf)

Our progress so far (reporting and monitoring)

As a public sector organisation, we have a statutory duty to ensure that equality, diversity and human rights are embedded into all functions and activities. This is required by the Equality Act 2010, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the NHS Constitution.

Here are some of the ways that we are monitoring how we are doing:

Equality Delivery System (pdf)

Gender pay gap report

Our gender pay gap report data has been produced using a number of set reports available through the ESR (Electronic Staff Record) system. This is a national NHS tool for generating gender pay gap information and by default takes into account a large number of NHS pay and bonus pay elements when generating reports.

Health inequalities

Health inequalities are unfair and avoidable differences in health across the population and between different groups within society.

Health inequalities can impact anyone. Reducing health inequalities is a key task for us and something we are committed to undertaking. It requires meaningful, effective actions to be implemented.

Our board, alongside our head of equality, diversity and inclusion, are looking into the development of a health inequalities strategy, to outline the challenges we face and how we will ensure equitable support and access for all.

We have signed up for the ‘advancing mental health equalities’ national resource, developed with the Royal College of Physiatrists and NHS England and NHS Improvement. This allows us to work with targeted portions of the population, embed innovative approaches and strategies, and reduce mental health inequalities.

Equality analysis

An equality analysis (EA) is a way of demonstrating that you have considered the effects that your policies or decisions will have on different groups of people.

For example, we all have different needs, and we have to think about this when we plan or deliver healthcare services.

We have developed an equality analysis toolkit, comprised of guidance, equality relevance assessment, equality analysis assessment and a service change checklist

If you would like further information about the equality analysis process or outcomes, please contact our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager.

Staff networks

We have a number of staff networks including the BAME network, D-Ability network, LGBTQ+ Network and the Women’s Network, to challenge us and help us to constantly improve. Our armed forces network is one of our emerging networks.

For further information

If you would be interested in this work, please contact our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager