NHS Lothian
Equality & Human Rights Scheme
Annual Report 2011
What is this report about?
In May 2010 we published our Equality & Human Rights Scheme. This
plan is important because it sets out the steps we will take between
2010 and 2013 to eliminate discrimination and promote equality and
Human Rights.
This is the first annual report showing the progress we have made. It
covers the year from 1 June 2010 to 31 May 2011.
What did we say we would do?
The Equality & Human Rights Scheme includes 97 actions over three
years which aim to make NHS Lothian fairer and more equal in the
way we deliver health services, the way we employ people and in the
way people can participate in decisions about health care.
During the year from June 2010 to May 2011, we said we would carry
out 35 actions. These actions aimed to address the priorities which
were identified by patients, staff and other people involved in
developing the Equality & Human Rights Scheme:
1. Staff should have more positive attitudes to equality, diversity
and Human Rights.
2. Barriers that stop people from accessing health services, or
benefiting from them, should be tackled. This includes
communication barriers.
3. NHS Lothian should be an equal opportunities employer whose
workforce reflects the diversity of the community it serves, and all
staff can meet their potential.
4. NHS Lothian enables all parts of the community to live healthier
lives, and works with partner organisations to build more
cohesive communities.
Author (s): James Glover
Version: 1
Status: Final version
Authorised by: MEGC
Date of Authorisation: 13 December 2011
Review Date:
Date added to Intranet: 30 April 2012
Key Words: policy, strategy, scheme, equality, diversity, human rights, duty, duties, age, race, disability, gender,
religion, faith, sexual orientation, LGBT, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, impact assessment, EQIA,
monitoring, action plan, annual report
What did we do?
Out of these 35 actions, we achieved a total of 31. Two of these
actions exceeded their target. We also managed to complete 6 actions
for next year ahead of target.
We were unable to complete 4 actions during the year. This was
because important pieces of work have been postponed into next year
for other reasons not related to equality & diversity. They will be
completed in 2011-12.
You can see detailed information on how we did on our website at
http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/YourRights/EqualityDiversity/Human
Rights/Pages/default.aspx.
Here are examples of what have achieved during the past year:
1. Staff should have more positive attitudes to equality, diversity
and Human Rights.
 A total of 7,000 staff completed nearly 21,000 training
modules on equality & diversity issues.
 We trained GPs, dentists, and practice staff in equality &
diversity issues including the importance of monitoring the
diversity of their patients.
 We trained 25 of the people who chair and sit on our
committees to be more aware of equality & diversity issues,
and especially to understand how we assess the impact on
equality of what we do.
2. Barriers that stop people from accessing health services, or
benefiting from them, should be tackled. This includes
communication barriers.
 We assessed all of our buildings and sites to see how
accessible they were. Almost all were judged to be
reasonably compliant with access regulations although
continued investment is needed. Where buildings were
non-compliant, these were where major rebuilding work (or
moving services elsewhere in Lothian) is already planned.
 We developed a set of standards for accessible, clear
communication, called our Clinical Information Standards.
All leaflets and other information are now required to meet
these standards.
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 We provided over 25,000 hours of interpreting in
community languages (mainly Polish, Urdu, Arabic and
Chinese languages).
 We exceeded our targets for making sure that our policies
and plans have a positive impact on equality. Over 90
impact assessments were carried out (see
http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/YourRights/EqualityDiver
sity/ImpactAssessment/Pages/default.aspx for details).
3. NHS Lothian should be an equal opportunities employer whose
workforce reflects the diversity of the community it serves, and all
staff can meet their potential.
 Our workforce became more diverse, with more people
from ethnic minorities, more disabled people and an
increase in the proportion of men employed by NHS
Lothian.
 Dignity at work improved, with staff reporting less bullying,
harassment and discrimination compared with 2008 and
compared with the average for Scottish NHS Boards.
 We provided mentoring opportunities to managers and
aspiring managers from ethnic minority backgrounds.
4. NHS Lothian enables all parts of the community to live healthier
lives, and works with partner organisations to build more
cohesive communities.
 For the first time, we carried out health checks for people
from ethnic minority communities and Gypsy Travellers. A
total of 559 people received the checks from our Keep Well
teams and Minority Ethnic Health Inclusion Service.
 In developing our new Sexual Health & HIV Strategy we
involved people from a wide range of seldom heard groups
including young people from ethnic minority communities,
sex workers and Gypsy/Travellers. See
http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/OurOrganisation/Strategi
es/Documents/SexualHealthandHIVStrategyOutcome.pdf
for more information.
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Where we performed well
We performed well in a number of areas including:
 Our major new strategies and plans involved a very wide range
of people from different groups, to make sure that we could take
into account views from groups who might otherwise face
inequality in the way they access health services. The Sexual
Health and HIV Strategy 2011-16 and Mental Health and
Wellbeing Strategy 2011-16 are good examples of this.
 We made a lot of improvements to the way we make sure that
our plans and policies do not discriminate against people. For
example, we published many more impact assessments than we
had expected to. We also carry out detailed monitoring to make
sure that services do what they say they will do.
 We made good progress with monitoring the diversity of our
patients. For example, our figures for the ethnic origin of our
patients have gone up from 6% to over 50% in less than a year.
This is important because it means that we can give patients the
care they need. It also helps us plan our services better.
Where we have more work to do
We still have a lot of work to do. This includes in these areas:
 We need to make sure that all staff receive the training they
require, and that it is kept up to date. This can be a challenge for
some groups of staff who find it difficult to access training. We
are targeting our work at certain key staff groups in 2011-12 such
as nurse managers (to improve the patient experience) and
Health Records staff (to support better monitoring of the diversity
of patients).
 We want to make sure that staff from all ethnic backgrounds can
progress in their careers, especially in nursing. We will continue
to provide mentoring for nurses from ethnic minority groups who
would like to be managers. We are also addressing this through
improved equal opportunities training for nurse managers who sit
on interview panels.
 It is important that we continue to make improvements in
gathering diversity information about our patients. We aim to
reach 90% of our patients having their ethnic origin recorded by
the end of 2011-12.
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 2011-12 will be a challenging year financially for the NHS in
Scotland, including NHS Lothian. It is very important that any
plans to achieve efficiencies take into account equality & diversity
and do not inadvertently discriminate against any disadvantaged
groups of people. We will continue to ensure that all efficiency
plans are subjected to impact assessment during 2011-12.
 Many patients continue to report that their additional needs are
not taken into account. This includes communication in a format
that is accessible to them, and automatically arranging double
length appointments, special equipment or interpreters without
the patient having to repeatedly ask for these. The Scottish
Government has asked us to be the national pilot Health Board
to try to find ways of addressing these problems.
Making sure we are accountable
We will be inviting people who were involved in developing our Equality
& Human Rights Scheme in 2010 to look at this report and the
evidence which supports it. This is to make sure that we are being
accurate and to ensure that our priorities are still correct. If you would
also like to participate in this discussion please contact us (see the end
of this report).
More information about the Equality & Human Rights Scheme
You can find out more about the Equality & Human Rights Scheme on
our website at
http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/YourRights/EqualityDiversity/Pages/
default.aspx.
Here you can see the full Scheme and the action plan, as well as an
Easy Read version and a short summary. You can also ask for paper,
audio or Braille copies of any of these documents by contacting us
(see below).
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Contacts
If you would like to speak to us about this annual report, or for more
information about equality, diversity and Human Rights, please
contact:
James Glover, Head of Equality & Diversity
Telephone: 0131 536 9000
Email: James.glover@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Lesley Boyd, Health Inequalities Manager
Telephone: 0131 537 6510
Email: Lesley.boyd@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
You can write to us at:
NHS Lothian, Waverley Gate, 2-4 Waterloo Place,
Edinburgh, EH1 3EG
December 2011
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