Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion mission is to be 'positively inclusive'.
Our Trust is committed to ensuring equality, diversity, inclusion and human rights are central to the way we deliver healthcare services to our service users and how we support staff.
The means we all play our part:
- To be a caring and progressive organisation that promotes equality, values and celebrates diversity and creates an inclusive and compassionate environment for receiving care and as a place to work;
- To ensure that our staff provide inclusive services that are equally good to all service users, which meet their needs and are delivered with kindness, dignity and respect;
- To ensure that all our team members are engaged, valued and treated equally with kindness, dignity and respect.
In the video below, Trust colleagues say what inclusion means to them.
We must act to fulfil our obligations and the pledges set out in the NHS Constitution, Equality Act 2010 (especially the public sector equality duty) and Human Rights Act 1998.
This means we must:
- publish relevant, proportionate information showing our compliance with the Equality Duty,
- publish information about decision-making and the equality data which underpins those decisions
- be accountable to our service users and communities
- give the public the information they need to hold public bodies to account for their performance on equality.
How can this be achieved?
The three processes we use are:
- Equality Impact Analysis – we are required to analyse the effect of any policy, practice, functions, business case, project or service change. In particular, we want to understand its impact on the nine protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation) of people within our community and employment. This is what is known as an ‘Equality Analysis’ or what used to be referred to as ‘Equality Impact Assessment’. View our Equality Impact Risk Analysis Policy. [saved in file manager in corporate publications – publication scheme]
- Collection, collation and analysis of equality data, functions and information – we publish an annual Public Sector Equality Duty report and publish equality information here on website – see below.
- Equality Delivery System (EDS2) – we assess and review our performance around equality and diversity using a national tool called the Equality Delivery System2 (EDS2). We engage and involve the public, leading to the setting and implementation of equality objectives over a four-year period.
Commitments to equality and diversity
Click on the drop-down accordions below to read about the different ways we put equality and diversity into practice within the Trust.
In May 2014 we became the first NHS trust in Derbyshire to sign the British Deaf Association’s BSL Charter, to demonstrate our commitment to equality for Deaf people.
By signing the BSL Charter, we have pledged to:
- Consult with our local Deaf community on a regular basis
- Ensure access for Deaf people to information and services
- Promote learning and high quality teaching of British Sign Language
- Support Deaf children and families
- Ensure staff working with Deaf people can communicate effectively in British Sign Language.
Derbyshire Healthcare successfully renewed its certification as a Disability Confident Employer in March 2021.
This means that the Trust is continuing to take all of the core actions to be a Disability Confident employer. We also agree to take at least one action to 'get the right people for the business' and at least one action to 'keep and develop our people' as described on the Disability Confident Employer page on the gov.uk website.
In March 2018 we signed the Armed Forces Covenant. This commits us to support all of those in the armed forces community who have contact with the Trust whether as patients, staff, carers or the general public.
The covenant focuses on helping members of the armed forces community have the same access to government and commercial services and products as any other citizen. This support is provided in a number of areas including:
- Education and family well-being
- Having a home
- Starting a new career
- Access to healthcare
- Financial assistance
- Discounted services.
In July 2018 we signed up to the TUC’s Dying to Work Voluntary Charter, which aims to help employees who become terminally ill at work. The Trust is committed to supporting any colleague who becomes terminally ill. Through signing the charter we hope to raise greater awareness of this initiative across our workforce, partner agencies and local communities. We will also seek to ensure we are doing all we can to support colleagues who receive a terminal diagnosis while working for the Trust.
The Trust signed up to the Race at Work Charter in July 2019. The Charter is composed of five principal calls to action for leaders and organisations across all sectors. Signing up means taking practical steps to ensure our workplaces are tackling barriers that ethnic minority people face in recruitment and progression.
The five calls to action are:
- Appoint an executive sponsor for race
- Capture ethnicity data and publicise progress
- Commit at Board level to zero tolerance of harassment and bullying
- Make clear that supporting equality in the workplace is the responsibility of all leaders and managers
- Take action that supports ethnic minority career progression.
We are proud to have pioneered the Reverse Mentoring for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ReMEDI) programme.
Reverse Mentoring is when an employee in a senior position is mentored by somebody in a more junior position. The purpose of the programme is to promote awareness of equality, influence meaningful understanding and lived experience of our staff from different groups and improve the workplace experience of our staff and the services provided to our Trust’s patients.
The first cohort have completed the programme, and created a Case Study for Future Focused Finance on their experiences.
We recognise that the Trust has a diverse workforce, and that we have a duty to provide equal opportunities to all of our employees without bias or discrimination regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, age, religious beliefs, disability or sexual orientation.
We currently have the following employee networks, each with an executive sponsor from our Board of Directors:
- Our Armed Forces Network
- Our Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Staff Network
- Our Disability and Wellness Staff Network
- Our LGBT+ Staff Network.
- Our Multi-Faith Forum
- Our Women's Network
These networks offer colleagues a safe place to receive support, advice and encouragement about work-related issues. They also serve as forums to exchange views and experiences and raise concerns. Their aim is to improve working lives, promote diversity and raise the standard of the services we provide.
The Trust is piloting a project to increase diversity across our workforce, starting with posts that are Band 6 and above. As part of this project, we have established a new role for Trust colleagues as recruitment inclusion guardians.
Recruitment inclusion guardians are ambassadors for creating a positive organisational culture, promoting a fair and inclusive working environment across the Trust. They act as critical friends to the organisation’s equality and diversity work and objectives.
As part of the pilot programme, the Trust has agreed that all band 6 and above posts will include a recruitment inclusion guardian in the shortlisting and interview process.
The ‘It’s not okay’ campaign outlines our commitment to reducing all incidents of discriminatory behaviour towards staff and to support our colleagues in actively addressing these issues.
The campaign is aimed at staff, carers, public, patients and visitors to the Trust premises. It aims to achieve the following:
- To confirm that colleagues will be supported in addressing and reporting any examples of discriminatory behaviour, whoever they come from (this includes patients, carers or colleagues)
- To increase the reporting of such incidents in the patient record
- To take appropriate steps to tackle any discriminatory behaviour
- To revisit any examples of discriminatory behaviour at a later stage (if it is not possible to do so at the time due to the delusional or compromised behaviour of someone in our care)
- To be clear that any discriminatory behaviour is not okay and will not be accepted.
Whilst this covers every form of discrimination and all protected characteristics, we know that the vast majority of abuse experienced by our colleagues is on the basis of race.
The 'it's not okay' poster is being displayed at Trust buildings. It features colleagues from our staff network groups, collectively and visibly taking a stand against discrimination.
Equality information
The drop-down accordions below provide details about equality information within the Trust.
The Equality Delivery System (EDS) is a system that helps NHS organisations improve the services they provide for their local communities and provide better working environments, free of discrimination, for those who work in the NHS, while meeting the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. The NHS developed the EDS, taking inspiration from existing work and good practice
Background to the EDS
The NHS EDS was launched as a continuous development tool in November 2011. In November 2012. Shared Intelligence published their report ‘Evaluation of the equality delivery system for the NHS’ which looked at how the EDS had been adopted across NHS organisations. Based on this evaluation and subsequent engagement with the NHS and key stakeholders, a refreshed EDS – known as EDS2 – was made available in November 2013.
A review of the EDS2 was undertaken to incorporate system changes and take account of the new system architecture for Integrated Care Systems. Through collaboration and co-production and taking into account the impact of COVID-19, the EDS has now been updated and EDS 2022 is now available for live testing during 2022/23.
The main purpose of the EDS was, and remains, to help local NHS systems and organisations, in discussion with local partners and local populations, review and improve their performance for people with characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010. By using the EDS 2022, NHS organisations can also contribute to delivering on the Public Sector Equality Duty.
EDS 2022 is aligned to NHS England’s Long term Plan and its commitment to an inclusive NHS that is fair and accessible to all.
EDS 2022/23 is a generic system designed for both NHS commissioners and NHS providers. As different systems apply EDS 2022/23 outcomes to their performance, NHS organisations should do so with regard to their specific roles and responsibilities.
EDS 2022/23 implementation by NHS provider organisations is mandatory in the NHS Standard Contract and the completion of an EDS will be part of provider CQC inspections
EDS 2022 Domains
There are three different domains to be reported on within the EDS.
Domain 1- Commissioned or Provided services (Patients and the Public). This requires deciding on areas to report on, gathering system wide evidence, writing a report based on the set questions and setting up and running a review and scoring event with stakeholders.
This domain is required to be undertaken collaboratively as an ICS system, showing provider and commissioner collaborative working. As the 2022-2023 report recognises that this is a transition year the requirements are for two areas to be explored and reported with 3 areas to be reported on 2023-24.
One area of focus must be from the Core20PLUS5 with the other area being from any other service. Core20PLUS5 is a national NHS England approach to support the reduction of health inequalities at both national and system level. The approach defines a target population cohort and identifies ‘5’ focus clinical areas requiring accelerated improvement. These areas are:
- Maternity
- Ensuring continuity of care for women from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and from the most deprived groups. This model of care requires appropriate staffing levels to be implemented safely.
- Severe mental illness (SMI)
- Ensuring annual health checks for 60% of those living with SMI (bringing SMI in line with the success seen in learning disabilities).
- Chronic respiratory disease
- A clear focus on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) driving up uptake of COVID, flu and pneumonia vaccines to reduce infective exacerbations and emergency hospital admissions due to those exacerbations.
- Early cancer diagnosis
- 75% of cases diagnosed at stage 1 or 2 by 2028.
- Hypertension case-finding and optimal management and lipid optimal management
- To allow for interventions to optimise blood pressure and minimise the risk of myocardial infarction and stroke.
Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s approach
Domain 1 Commissioned or Provided services
We have been working closely with our system partners including the Integrated Care Board (ICB), University Hospital of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust and Chesterfield Royal NHS Foundation Trust and learning from Derbyshire Community Healthcare Services who has been a pilot site for EDS 2022.
For Domain 1 DHCFT participated in a system wide grading event on the 28th February where the Perinatal Community Mental Health Service was presented for grading.
Perinatal Community Mental Health Service presentation
Perinatal Community Mental Health Service Scoring
Please note: our current grading refers only to domain 1 and this was undertaken as a system collaborative approach. The times lines for Domains 2 and 3 are listed below:
Domain 2: Workforce and Health and Wellbeing
- DHFCT will be undertaking a review and grading for this domain between April -September 2023
Domain 3: Inclusive Leadership
- DHCFT will be undertaking a review and grading for this domain Between October and December 2023.
Our 2019 workforce demographic report provides a detailed analysis of our workforce by the REGARDS characteristics: Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Age, Religion, Disability and Sexual orientation.
The report shows how representative our workforce is in comparison to the local population. It also contains an in-depth look at a wide range of workforce metrics by protected characteristic, such as service area, salary band, staff group, applicants for jobs, performance management, grievances, dignity at work cases, redundancies and leavers, and staff development (training).
You can also view our 2018 workforce demographic report.
The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of 10 specific measures (metrics) that enables NHS organisations to compare the experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff. NHS organisations use the metrics data and local data to develop a local action plan. The metrics also enable NHS organisations to demonstrate progress against the indicators of disability equality. Learn more on the NHS England website.
The WDES report and action plan is a live document and will be monitored and updated to ensure the actions remain effective.
Previous WDES reports can be found on our publication scheme page, in the 'Trust documents' table.
All NHS organisations are required to demonstrate through the nine-point Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) how they are addressing race equality issues in a range of staffing areas. The move follows reports which have highlighted disparities in the number of BME people in senior leadership positions across the NHS, as well as lower levels of wellbeing amongst the BME population.
Please note that the WRES report and action plan is a live document and will be monitored and updated to ensure the actions remain effective.
Previous WRES reports can be found on our publication scheme page, in the 'Trust documents' table.
Our BME Network holds an annual conference:
- See our latest BME Annual Conference Report, following the conference on 25 September 2019.
- BME Network AGM and Conference Report May 2018.
Since the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 came into force on 10 September 2011, there has been a duty for public bodies with 150 or more employees to publish information on the diversity of their workforce. The government made gender pay gap reporting mandatory by amending the SDR so that all public sector employers with more than 250 employees have to measure and publish their gender pay gaps.
- View the Trust's latest gender pay gap report (2023)
- View the gender pay gap report from 2022
- View the gender pay gap report from 2021
- View the gender pay gap report from 2020
- View the gender pay gap report from 2019.
View information about our Trust's gender pay gap in previous years on the gov.uk website. Here you can also search for information about other public sector organisations.
The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) assesses the health and social care needs people in Derby and Derbyshire in order to improve the physical and mental health and wellbeing of everyone in our communities and reduce inequalities for all ages.
A JSNA data set provides powerful indicators to establish current and future health needs of the local population. This in turn supports better targeting of interventions to reduce health inequalities.
View the JSNA for Derby on the Derby City Council website. View the JSNA for Derbyshire on the Derbyshire County Council website.
Contact us
To request any information on equality and diversity that isn’t available here, please contact our Freedom of Information team.
