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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Human Rights

At Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust we work to ensure that we are an inclusive employer and provider for healthcare services. Our aim is to provide equality of opportunity and access to all of our patients, workforce and members of the public.

We are committed to furthering equality, diversity, inclusion and human rights and reducing the inequalities in health across our boroughs. In this section you can read more about how we do this through our strategies, including the documents and reports that we use to monitor our work in this area as well as demonstrate our achievements under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

We are kind and inclusive

Uniting against discrimination:

Our teams work hard to deliver the very best care for our patients and their families regardless of their race, culture, belief or faith, gender or sexuality, age or if they have a disability.

We are proud that Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals is an inclusive organisation and we recognise and celebrate our differences - being different is what makes us who we are.

This means that we do not tolerate, under any circumstances, any form of racial abuse, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, ableism, sexism, sexual misconduct or any other form of discrimination by our patients, visitors or by our staff.

We will deal with any form of abuse or discrimination whenever and wherever it arises, directly or indirectly, in a kind, polite and professional manner. We are committed to working and delivering healthcare in an inclusive way which enables all to feel they belong here.

The Trust Board and our leadership teams will support staff where they are exposed to any form of abuse or discrimination and our staff are encouraged and supported to report such incidents, as soon as they occur.

Together we will...

  • Make our services the very best places to receive healthcare, to work and to learn
  • Change attitudes and not tolerate discrimination, harassment, victimisation or violence
  • Make a difference, because together, we encourage and respect diversity.
     

At Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals, as an NHS organisation, we have both a legal and moral duty to demonstrate fairness and equality to our patients, service users, workforce and the local community.
In line with the specific duties of the Public Sector Equality Duty, we reviewed and refreshed our equality objectives in April 2022. Part of this review included the formation of two new strategies:

  • Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2025
  • Patient, Service User and Carers Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Strategy 2022-2025

The two strategies provide an approach to delivering on the expectations of the Public Sector Equality Duty and Armed Forces Act 2021 whilst supporting the delivery of the organisations commitment to being an inclusive employer and outstanding place to receive healthcare. The content of the strategies were informed by national reports, regulated reporting such as the Workforce Equality Standards and known health inequality data to ensure they delivered meaningful impact. 

The Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2025 sets out the WHH commitment to be the best place to work, creating a culture of belonging for all. A copy of our Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2025 can be found here.

The Patient, Service User and Carers Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Strategy 2022-2025 was designed with our patients and communities at its centre, acknowledging the role WHH plays in ensuring our hospitals are accessible and that our services address health inequalities in our community. A copy of our Patient, Service User and Carers Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Strategy 2022-2025 can be found here.
 

The Human Rights Act 1998 provides our patients, workforce and members of the public with a vehicle through which they can ensure that their human rights are fully considered when decisions regarding access to treatment and services are taken. The Act also covers the right to life or quality of life by providing a mechanism for demanding lifesaving treatment and for non-life saving treatment where denial would have a severe impact upon the quality of that individual’s life.

The core principles of human rights are commonly referred to as the FREDA principles, Fairness, Respect, Equality, Dignity and Autonomy. These core principles are brought to life by a range of different human rights that make them real. The Trust and other public sector bodies are obliged to respect human rights and in the service which we provide to you, can give these principles real meaning.

Principle and corresponding human right 

  • Fairness – Right to a fair trial, for example, fair and transparent complaints procedures
  • Respect – Right to respect for family and private life, for example, respect for same sex families, homelessness and socioeconomic factors
  • Equality – Right not to be discriminated against in the enjoyment of other human rights
  • Dignity – Right to not be treated in an inhumane way, for example, supporting to eat and drink
  • Autonomy – Right to respect, for example, being involved in decisions about care and treatment

If you have any questions regarding your treatment as a patient, please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) on 01925 275512 or email at whh.pals@nhs.net
 

At Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals we are committed to being the best place to work, ensuring we are an inclusive employer, creating a culture of belonging for all.

We strive to promote diversity and equality of opportunity in employment, welcoming and encouraging applications from all our community. In ensuring that we are inclusive we are proud to be recognised as a Disability Confident Leader, holding the Two Tick Employer Award, ensuring that people with a disability or neurodiversity are not disadvantaged in the workplace. To apply for a role at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals, please register at NHS Jobs by following the link to our Work at WHH pages.

In addition to being a Disability Confident Leader, in 2022, WHH achieved the In-Trust Merseyside and Cheshire Navajo LGBTQ+ Charter Mark. The accreditation recognises the commitment WHH continues to make to improve the experience and health outcomes of the LGBTQ+ community – both for our patients and our workforce. The Trust also became Stonewall Diversity Champions to continue to improve our policies, procedures and workstreams for the future.

As an accredited Armed Forces Friendly Hospital and Silver accredited with the Employer Recognition Scheme, we identify and record our patients and staff within the military community to ensure they receive support needed. The Armed Forces Covenant is a pledge to acknowledge and understand the needs of the Armed Forces community and aims to build a more open and honest relationship between employers, the Ministry of Defence and reservists.

You can find the policies, tools and action plans we publish around this area of work below.

At Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals as part of our commitment to ensuring we hear the views and experiences of our workforce we are proud to support our Staff Networks in their development.

Our current Staff Networks include:

  1. Multi-Ethnic Staff Network
  2. Progress LGBTQ+ Network
  3. Disability Awareness Network
  4. Armed Forces and Military Veterans Community Staff Network
  5. Women's Staff Network

In addition, the organisation’s Staff Networks have a standing agenda item on the Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Sub-Committee, meet with the Chief People Officer monthly and Chief Executive Officer quarterly. This ensures that our Staff Network voice influences the discussions and strategic projects across our Trust.

The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 requires all public sector organisations with over 250 employees to report and publish their gender pay gap on their website on an annual basis.

The gender pay gap is defined in the Equality Act 2010 as the difference between the average hourly earnings of men and those of women. This is not the same as equal pay, which is concerned with males and females earning equal pay for the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value.
Gender pay reporting highlights any imbalance of average pay across an organisation. For example, if an organisation’s workforce is predominantly female yet the majority of senior positions are held by men, the average female salary would be lower than the average male salary.

The Gender Pay Gap report for the Trust can be found below:

As part of our commitment at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals we publish an annual Equality, Diversity and Inclusion report. This highlights our achievements during the past year, covering ongoing work across service delivery and employment. It also includes our plans to address areas for improvement and highlights our successes.

This report is an important part of our obligation to keep improving our performance under the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty contained within that legislation.

It forms evidence of our commitment to:

  • eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation
  • advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who don’t
  • foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who don’t.

In addition, our annual report also contains our progress to meeting the Armed Forces Act 2021 and Human Rights Act 1998.

You can find the annual report below:

At Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals we recognise that equality of opportunity is fundamental to developing the organisational culture needed to support a diverse and inclusive workforce. 

On an annual basis we publish our Workforce Equality Assessment report, this gives an overview of all workforce demographics by protected characteristic, this provides a detailed snapshot of the profile of the Trust workforce. By analysing this data across the Trust, we gain insight into how and where barriers may present for our workforce, and an indication of where and when strategic interventions may have the most impact.

You can find the annual report below:

 

The Trust complies with the Equality Delivery System (EDS) reporting which is in place for both patients and its workforce. The Trust participated in the pilot for the refreshed EDS 2022 framework which was completed in the 2022/23 financial year. 

EDS grading is completed on an annual basis and is graded in collaboration with community partners, key stakeholders and the wider public. This is published annually, and reports can be found below:

At Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust we are committed to ensuring equality of opportunity for all protected characteristics and social groups, by which no one experiences any form of discrimination, harassment or victimisation whilst visiting or working at our hospitals.

To ensure we monitor this, we utilise Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) as a tool to evidence that we pay ‘due regard’ to the general aims of the Public Sector Equality Duty (defined within section 149 of the Equality Act 2010), Armed Forces Act 2021 and Human Rights Act 1998.

An example of our documentation can be found here.

For more information or a request of documentation, please contact:

Implementing the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) is a requirement for NHS healthcare providers through the NHS standard contract. NHS providers are expected to show progress against a number of indicators of workforce equality, including a specific indicator to address the low numbers of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic board members across the organisation.

Each year the Trust submits its data related to the WRES indicators and creates an action plan for improvement. The current and previous action plans can be found below:
 

Implementing the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a requirement for NHS healthcare providers through the NHS standard contract. The WDES is a set of ten specific metrics which enables NHS organisations to compare the workplace and career experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff. 

The Trust use the metrics data to develop and publish an action plan. Year on year comparison enables Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals to demonstrate progress against the indicators of disability equality. The current and previous action plans can be found below:

The Accessible Information Standard is a law which aims to make sure people with a disability or sensory loss are given information they can understand, and the communication support they need. It was introduced to make sure that providers of health and social care services have systems in place to identify and meet a patient’s additional communication or information needs. 
This requires us to identify, record, flag, share and meet the needs of our patient’s communication and information needs.

There are several ways for you to share your communication needs with us, this includes:

  • Sharing information with the Appointments Team when booking an appointment with us
  • Telling a member of the Emergency Department or Clinic on your arrival
  • Sharing information with us when you are admitted to a ward or department.

You can find out more information about the Accessible Information Standards, including how to access your information in other formats or languages by contacting the Patient Experience and Inclusion Team on whh.patient.experience@nhs.net
 

For queries related to regulated reporting or Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, please contact whh.workforceediteam@nhs.net

For queries related to Patient Experience and Patient Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, please contact whh.patient.experience@nhs.net