Equality, Diversity
and Human Rights Strategy 2015-16
Introduction
At St Andrews we want everyone who works for, or uses our services, to be in an
environment that fulfils their human rights, is free from discrimination, positive, safe,
and supports everyone to achieve to their full potential.
Our community is complex. Learning from people’s experiences matters to us. It is
important that patients, carers and staff at all levels have an effective voice, influencing
how we work – helping us develop in our aim to provide world-class services. We value
staff meeting people’s diverse personal needs fairly, with compassion, respect,
accountability and excellence.
Everyone has a part to play. We encourage all staff to show individual responsibility.
This means everyone acting with integrity, being open and honest, learning and
improving how they work personally, as well as implementing the charity’s policies.
We want everyone to demonstrate commitment to being the best we can be, not just
compliance to standards.
Aims
This Strategy sets out the approach that St Andrew’s Healthcare will take to advance,
mainstream and integrate equality, diversity and human rights (EDHR) throughout the
Charity. St Andrew’s Healthcare is committed not only to ensuring that it meets its legal
and regulatory obligations but more importantly to creating a culture that:
 promotes inclusivity, participation and good relations between people
 seeks to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and inequality
 advocates justice, dignity and respect for everyone
 ensures human rights are fulfilled
 identifies and removes or minimises disadvantages suffered by people due to
their protected characteristics
 harnesses individual potential and removes barriers to opportunity
 advances equality of opportunity
If you need a summary of this information in an alternative version such as large print or have any
questions, please contact Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Lead, Lindsey Ambrose (in Quality,
Governance and Nursing Directorate) tel. 01604 616622 (text relay calls welcome) or email:
LRAmbrose@standrew.co.uk) or a Human Resources Business Partner (workforce queries; tel.
01604 616464 (text relay calls welcome) or email employeerelations@standrew.co.uk).
This document is due for review each year. Date of this version: 16 August 2015
CONTENTS
Introduction
Aims
1. Why are equality, diversity and human rights (EDHR) important?
2. Our Approach
2.1 Equality Analysis (EqA)
2.2 Consultation, Engagement and Involvement
2.3 Equality and Diversity Monitoring
2.4 Learning and Development
3. Our Charity Equality Objectives
4. Reviewing Progress
Appendices
Appendix 1: Definitions
Appendix 2: The Equality Delivery System 2 framework
Appendix 3: Progress against St Andrew’s Priority Equality Objectives in 2014/15
Appendix 4: St Andrew’s Priority Equality Objectives in 2015/16
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1. Why are equality, diversity and human rights (EDHR) important?
The moral case: treating people fairly and with respect for their diversity and human
rights is a fundamental value of civilised societies. It is important for care to be delivered
with compassion and sensitively, taking account of the diverse needs of the people who
work for, and use, St Andrew’s services.
The business case: investing in EDHR will result in more inclusive, efficient and
effective services, often through making low cost, simple, changes. It can lead to greater
patient and carer involvement, improved recovery and health equality outcomes, greater
employee satisfaction, productivity, creativity, innovation and flexibility.
The legal and regulatory case: Various pieces of legislation and regulations place a
range of duties on the Charity to ensure and support improvement in services and
accountability, to improve health equality outcomes for its patients, including for example
The Health and Social Care Act 2012, The Adult Autism Act 2009, Human Rights Act
1998, the Care Act 2014, the Mental Health and Capacity Acts, the Duty of Candour, the
NHS Accessible Information Standard and safeguarding duties.
The Equality Act 2010 includes rights for people not to be discriminated against on
account of their protected characteristics. It also imposes a ‘general’ duty on St
Andrew’s Healthcare to have due regard to the need to:
 eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
 advance equality of opportunity
 foster good relations between people
Having ‘due regard’ means showing we integrate thinking about equality into policies,
decision-making and communications. We call this Equality Analysis (“EqA”) (It is
sometimes also referred to as “equality impact assessment”).
2. Our Approach
To ensure that EDHR is mainstreamed into everyday practice we have a range of
approaches including induction and mandatory training for staff, information leaflets,
staff equality network groups, equality allies approaches for patients, carers
engagement groups, workshops for patients and staff, CQC simulated inspections,
surveys and equalities analysis audits.
We are using the Equality Delivery System (EDS2) to help us embed good equality
and diversity practice (see Appendix 2). This tool has been adopted for assessing
equalities compliance by service providers by the Care Quality Commission and the
Department of Health. Progress is overseen by our EDHR Steering Group which meets
quarterly. Key goals of the EDS framework are:
 better health outcomes
 improved patient access and experience
 a representative and supported workforce
 inclusive leadership
Our ambition is to be “excelling” in all areas by the end of 2015-2016.
To ensure that the Charity’s suppliers work to the same equality standards as
St Andrew’s Healthcare in their employment practices and provision of goods and
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services, the Charity’s Procurement Policy (FIN 21) makes sure that equal opportunities
considerations are incorporated into specifications, evaluation of tenders, conditions of
contract and contractor performance management.
2.1 Equality Analysis (EqA)
Policies: Every policy is subjected to EqA using templates which prompt consideration
of protected characteristics, human rights and impacts on recovery. Equality analysis
aims to help make a difference by identifying differing outcomes linked to protected
characteristics and recommending actions for improvement.
The consultation process is open to all staff to contribute views. Policy owners are
encouraged to look at best practice elsewhere and to seek views of colleagues including
staff from the LGBT, RACE, and ABLE Groups, the Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care Team
and the Deaf Service and to seek the views of a diverse range of patients and carers.
Practices, projects and plans: We have introduced equality analysis to ensure that
everything we do (not just policies), meets the needs of our staff, patients and carers
and does not disadvantage a particular group of people. This includes everything from
service developments, project management, ward rules, building works to food
arrangements, hairdresser services, and patient information.
Equality Analysis Audits are carried out twice a year (usually April and September),
with follow up checks (usually June and December) to ensure we are using EqA
meaningfully, with progress and improvement. Reports are published on the intranet,
directly available to staff, and available on request to patients and others such as
inspectors and for contract compliance.
2.2 Consultation, Engagement and Involvement
Staff: Regular meetings take place with staff representatives to discuss a range of
employee themes, including EDHR issues. These include:
 Monthly meetings between the Charity and local recognised Trade Union
representatives
 Quarterly meetings between the Charity and recognised Regional Trades Union
Officials
 Bi-monthly Your Voice: Employee Forum Meetings, involving Employee
Representatives for every Service and Directorate
 At least Quarterly meetings for Local Communications Forums, involving Employee
Representatives for different departments and professions within every Service
 Quarterly or bi-monthly meetings with the Equality and Diversity Champions Group,
the staff equality groups; Race and Culture Equality Group (RACE), the Disability
and Wellbeing group (ABLE), the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender group
(LGBT) and the Nottinghamshire, Birmingham and Essex staff equality groups.
Patients: The Charity has a number of engagement mechanisms for patients, including
direct communication with senior leaders and staff, the BENNS (Birmingham, Essex,
Notts and Northampton) Patient Recovery Forum, patient and service user meetings,
carers groups, equality allies and alliance activities, diversity events and Recovery
Centre learning sets such as “My Rights and Responsibilities”. These can enable
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patients and staff to work together to make service improvements, contribute to Equality
Analysis to influence policy, project and practice. Patients are involved in recruitment of
staff with decision-making influence over appointments. Patients attend board and
management meetings to share experiences and inform service improvements.
Carers: Carers can influence the Board and other Senior Managers via the Carers
Strategy Monitoring Group that oversees our Carers, Families and Friends Strategy,
visits wards, shadows staff, observes learning set sessions and undertakes projects
such as information development and review.
2.3 Equality and Diversity Monitoring
Staff: Information is collected about the profile of our workforce (permanent, bureau
and volunteer) in terms of age, disability, gender, race (ethnicity and nationality),
religion or belief, gender identity, sexual orientation and marital status at various
points throughout the employee lifecycle. The Charity uses the data collected to
identify whether any group is under-represented or disadvantaged by employment
policies or practices and addresses any issues identified. The Charity monitors key
areas of employment practice such as;

the diversity of potential recruits (at application, interview and offer stages)
and existing employees

internal promotions, discipline and grievance cases, IPDR ratings, pay and
access to training
Data is compared and analysed against other groups of employees, competitors,
local and regional communities and relevant recruitment and national labour
markets. Information about staff is collected for specific purposes, published in
anonymised summary formats, kept entirely confidential and is available to
everyone.
Patients: The Charity monitors patients in terms of their protected characteristics.
Work is ongoing to improve how we do this from admission onwards. The use of “My
Shared Pathway” and “Care Programme Approach”, along with diversity
considerations in care planning and specialist assessments, help identify and meet
individual patients’ diverse personal needs. Patient data is not widely published due
to low numbers and privacy, but is reported for appropriate management purposes..
Confidentiality: All data, whether about staff or patients, is carefully managed in
line with human rights, St Andrew’s Confidentiality Policy (COR24), Overarching
Information Governance and Security Policy (IG01), Information Security Policy
(IG02), Records Management Policy (IG03) and the Data Protection Act 1998.
The charity uses equality data, together with other feedback, to inform selfassessment in equalities analysis and progress against the EDS framework.
2.4 Learning and Development
Staff: On induction all new starters are made aware of the values and ethos of the
Charity and its commitment to equality, diversity and human rights; mandatory
refresher training is provided every two years; multi-media displays and events about
equalities take place throughout the year, changes in legislation and policies are
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briefed to managers and employees at all levels, as required, through a variety of
media. Other development opportunities may be integrated into Individual Personal
Development Reviews (IPDR) e.g. lectures, short courses, seminars, community
group involvement. A wide range of specific EDHR related courses are delivered
across the Charity. The quality of training is routinely evaluated to improve its impact
in the workplace and on patient care. Trainer feedback is also robustly reviewed to
ensure tutors are respectful and fair in their delivery and assessment.
Access to Learning: equality of opportunity of staff in learning and development is
internally reviewed and highlighted good practice. For example, e-learning enables
access to learning at night, the Learning & Development (L&D) team deliver twilight
and night sessions, and bureau workers and part time employees have an equally
robust induction as full time employees. Staff, volunteers and bureau employees all
have access to learning and development activities. All learning literature aims to be
in plain English and plain text print and a range of learning options are available
(online, workbook and face to face). E-learning underwent User Acceptance Testing
to ensure accessibility for learners with a variety of needs.
Patients, Service Users, Carers and Volunteers have opportunities to take part in
EDHR training activity for staff and for patients. Patients facilitate or co-facilitate
training including induction, Care Plan Approach and personality disorder training.
Patients have made films to share their experiences within training for all staff. On
wards, patients learn about EDHR through therapeutic activities. Patients and other
service users organise, facilitate and participate in events, such as training for
patients and staff together, including food hygiene, chairing meetings and “My
Rights and Responsibilities” learning sets. Several patients have become PLACE
assessors. Some patients have participated in the Annual Summer School
Psychiatry Workshop.
3. Our Charity Equality Objectives
EDHR is integral to everyone’s work. Rather than being “done” by any one person or
team, equality objectives may exist at individual, local, service and whole
organisation levels. Appendix 3 summarises progress against our priority equality
objectives for 2014/15 including other workforce, patient experience and healthcare
highlights.
Having used equalities monitoring data and qualitative input from various
stakeholders, the following equality objectives have been determined for 2015/16.
Priorities for 2015-16 include:

Mainstreaming and embedding equality analysis into projects and practice.

Improving positive and safe practice, encouraging least restrictive approaches.

Improving physical health through supporting patient weight management.
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
Achieving National Autistic Society Accreditation across a range of services.

Improving accessibility of our services for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing.

Increasing equality, diversity and human rights awareness of staff, patients and other
people who use our services

Improving Neuropsychiatry patient engagement at service level and on the BENNS
Central Patient Recovery Forum

Improving our understanding of the diversity of our workforce in order to improve
monitoring of equality of outcome on a range of employment measures

Improving our understanding of how the disabilities of people in our workforce need
to be taken into account in order to provide more effective workplace support

Increasing representation of under-represented groups (BME staff) in senior roles

Increasing confidence that staff will be treated fairly in relation to disciplinary and
grievance matters

Ensure equality network groups are properly represented by all services and are
proactively driving the equality agenda
Appendix 4 contains full details about our equality objectives for 2015/16.
4. Reviewing Progress
This Strategy will be reviewed annually including reporting on the Charity’s equalities
performance and progress. During the year reporting on EDHR, including risks and
their management will be to the Assurance Board, Quality and Risk Board and
Change Board. Within the directorate the People Group will consider Human
Resources aspects. The BENNS Patient Recovery Forum will consider patient and
service user aspects of the strategy and its objectives. Responsibility for equality
issues is held jointly by the Executive Director of Human Resources (workforce), the
Executive Director of Nursing and Quality (Quality, Governance, Nursing, Patient,
Carer and other service user experience). Overall accountability is assigned to the
Chief Medical Officer.
During the year, to ensure we regularly monitor and continue to make progress,
review activities will include:
 Equality and Diversity Steering Group quarterly meetings
 EDHR Forum meetings
 Spiritual Healthcare Group meetings
 LGBT, ABLE and RACE group meetings
 Day to day management and leadership of the Charity’s compliance and progress
by our Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Leads in Quality, Governance &
Nursing Directorate, and in Human Resources
 Equalities analysis audits as outlined in section 2.1
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Appendix 1: Definitions
Equality: is about creating a fairer society where everyone has the same chance to fulfil
their potential, to participate fully in the community and have access to the services they
need. Equality of opportunity is about equal access, treatment and outcomes that meet
individual needs.
Diversity: is about recognising, understanding and valuing differences.
Human rights are basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world.
Some are absolute, others qualified. They provide minimum standards for services and
inform decisions we make. It is important that St Andrew’s Healthcare promotes enjoyment
of human rights so far as is possible, even for detained patients. Human rights include:
Right to life
Right not to be
treated in an
inhuman or
degrading way
Right not to be
treated in cruel
ways.
Right to liberty
If a patient dies while at St Andrew’s Healthcare there must be an enquiry
into what went wrong.
This right to be treated with dignity and respect needs to take account of
an individual’s religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender reassignment,
disability needs or any other characteristic.
Right to respect for
private and family
life, home and
correspondence
Everyone has the right not to be tortured or hurt in cruel ways. For
example, nobody should hit or hurt a patient, even if they think the patient
behaved badly.
People can only be detained to the extent it is necessary for treatment
which will be likely to improve their condition or stop it getting worse
Everyone has the right to a fair process when people make decisions
about them.
Home includes wards for detained mental health patients. Rights have to
take account of the rights of other people. Any interference with this right
must be justified, lawful, necessary and proportionate (that is, not
excessive in the circumstances).
Right to freedom of
thought, conscience
and religion
People are free to believe what they like. People can be stopped from
going to church, mosque and other such places only if there is a very
serious reason, like to protect the rights of others.
Right to freedom of
expression.
This right must be balanced against other people’s rights. It may be
changed for reasons like public health or safety. St Andrew’s Healthcare
may need to take action, including reporting patients and staff to the
Police and prosecuting them, if they are for example, racist, homophobic,
transphobic or disablist to staff, patients or other people using our
services.
This relates to discrimination in enjoying another human right.
Right to a fair trial
Stopping
discrimination
Protected characteristics: are set out in the Equality Act 2010. They are age, gender,
gender reassignment, race/ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, religion and (nonreligious) belief, pregnancy and maternity (including breastfeeding) and marital status
(including civil partnership). All of us have at least some of these characteristics. Human
rights law includes, and goes beyond these to check we all enjoy our human rights.
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Appendix 2 – Equality Delivery System 2 Framework
Goal
1. Better
health
outcomes
Number Description of outcome
1.1
Services are commissioned, procured, designed and delivered
to meet the health needs of local communities
1.2
Individual people’s health needs are assessed and met in
appropriate and effective ways
1.3
Transitions from one service to another, for people on care
pathways, are made smoothly with everyone well-informed
1.4
When people use NHS services their safety is prioritised and
they are free from mistakes, mistreatment and abuse
1.5
Screening, vaccination and other health promotion services
reach and benefit all local communities
2. Improved
2.1
People, carer and communities can readily access hospital,
patient
community health or primary care services and should not be
access and
denied access on unreasonable grounds.
experience
2.2
People are informed and supported to be as involved as they
wish to be in decisions about their care.
2.3
People report positive experiences of the NHS
2.4
People’s complaints about services are handled respectfully and
efficiently.
3. A
3.1
Fair recruitment and selection processes lead to a more
representative
representative workforce at all levels
and
3.2
The organisation is committed to equal pay for work of equal
supported
value and uses equal pay audits to help fulfil legal obligations
workforce
3.3
Training and development opportunities are taken up and
positively evaluated by all staff.
3.4
When at work, staff are free from abuse, harassment, bullying
and violence from any source
3.5
Flexible working options are available to all staff consistent with
the needs of the service and the way people lead their lives
3.6
Staff report positive experiences of their membership of the
workforce
4. Inclusive
4.1
Boards and senior leaders routinely demonstrate their
leadership
commitment to promoting equality within and beyond
St Andrew’s Healthcare
4.2
Papers that come before the Board and other major committees
identify equality-related impacts including risks, and say how
these risks are to be managed.
4.3
Middle managers and other line managers support their staff to
work in culturally competent ways within a work environment
free from discrimination.
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Appendix 3: Progress against St Andrew’s Priority Equality Objectives in 2014/15 (summary)
Embed equalities analysis across non ‘policies’ work
The objective was to have integrated and mainstreamed
equalities analysis into ward life, project work and other nonpolicies work including revising paperwork to support decisionmaking by Boards and other major committee meetings. This
objective has been achieved to some extent but there is still a lot
of work to do, so we are keeping this as a priority for 2015/16.
Progress examples:
 Standard paperwork supports Board and major
committees to make decisions taking equality
considerations into account
 The Production and Provision of Patient Information Policy
guides staff to meet the diverse needs of our patients to a
good standard.
 EqA has been used to influence the functionality, design
and content of the new St Andrew’s Healthcare website
 The extension of EqA to building projects has included
improvements to ward facilities and relocation of services
such as a multi-faith room.
 The extension of EqA to practices has included ward rules
and expectations, community meetings and identifying
new safe and non-bureaucratic ways to meet ethnic
minority haircare needs of patients at all our sites
Implement St Andrew’s Weight Management Strategy to help improve physical health equality outcomes
of patients
The objective was to reduce the incidence of BMIs over 30
across St Andrew’s Healthcare so that people with mental health
disorders and conditions which may be made worse by obesity
can enjoy improved physical health. We have decided to revise
this objective in 2015/16.
Progress examples:
 Care Plans and Reporting: work has been done to
ensure all patients with Body Mass Index of 30+ have an
individual care plan in place for obesity. Regular reporting
is in place on BMI rates to local and central Quality and
Compliance groups.
 Health promotion groups: positive lifestyle choices have
been promoted through a range of activities including
health fairs, awards, physical activity events and activities
at patient parties (such as an exotic fruits version of the
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



“Bush Tucker Challenge”).
Food Rights and Patient Choice sessions: developed
for ward managers and other staff by Patient Experience
working with Dietitian and Catering Services, supported by
information developed in Easy Read
Food Guidelines: updated information for wards, helps to
explain the overall arrangements for a ward, the daily
choices patients can make and about how individual
patient dietary care plans may differ to general guidelines.
Food and Health Policy: has been updated to ensure it
complies with Department of Health (August 2014)
Hospital Food Standards for food and drink in NHS
Hospitals.
Improvements to food labelling to meet new
requirements about advising people about food allergy
risks.
Achieve National Autistic Society Accreditation across a range of services
The objective was for all identified wards under the St Andrew’s
Healthcare Autism Strategy to achieve National Autistic Society
Accreditation by the end of 2015. Achievement of accreditation
with the National Autistic Society can take up to 3 years to
achieve. Work is ongoing. We have decided to keep this as one
of our priorities for 2015-16 and to extend the time to complete
this objective.
Progress examples:
 St Andrew’s Healthcare has developed a care pathway
for Autism Spectrum Disorder (“ASD”) which dictates
assessments and treatment offered within the services
 A range of autism training is available from a 1 hour
introductory awareness course to comprehensive 2 day
courses
 The ASD Quality and Assurance Group are reviewing
resources, skills and knowledge on ASD wards against
NICE guidance
 Autism is included in Focus on Diversity displays and a
support booklet for staff has been introduced.
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Improve the Accessibility of our services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing
The objective was changed and extended so that our ambition
now is to achieve Louder than Words Charter Mark across all
sites and services by end of 2015-2016. St Andrew’s Healthcare
received very positive and encouraging feedback from its first
stage benchmarking visit in January 2015 which led to creating
an action plan for improvement.
Progress examples:
 Progress is ongoing.
 The Deaf Service has developed community meeting
agenda templates in BSL (images of British Sign
Language signs) to help everyone to participate and
have their say effectively. They are developing further
materials, such as ward expectations.
 There are Deaf Awareness displays in staff areas
around St Andrew’s Healthcare
 Deaf Awareness and BSL have been included in
equality allies newsletters for patients and staff.
 Patient Experience and the Deaf Service hosted a Deaf
Awareness stand at the patients’ summer party in
Northampton; and a ward learned greetings and a song
in BSL as part of deaf awareness-raising activity for
patients and staff.
 The new website includes some videos helping to
provide pictorial information rather than relying on
written or spoken words.
Increase equality, diversity and human rights awareness of staff, patients and other people who use the
charity’s services
The objective was to improve awareness by patients and staff of
diversity, protected characteristics, rights and responsibilities by
taking part in the “My Rights and Responsibilities” learning set
and delivering targeted equality, diversity and human rights
awareness and competence training for staff.
Progress examples:
 Over 20 wards at our Northampton, Notts, Essex and
Birmingham sites have completed “My Rights and
Responsibilities” learning sets.
 Patients on Robinson Ward (William Wake House)
helped to develop a new patient information leaflet “an
Introduction to Human Rights”
 Patients on Althorp Ward (Neuropsychiatry) helped to
develop a new patient information leaflet “Food and
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






Patient Choice” which explains about the laws and
people’s rights.
A new patient information leaflet has been developed
with LGBT patient inputs from our Notts site, aimed at
supporting patients and staff with care planning to meet
the personal diverse needs of patients who identify as
LGBT (or questioning).
An LGBT awareness quiz has been developed for staff
Carers Engagement has included visits to services and
opportunities to observe sessions and community
meetings
Monthly Focus on Diversity displays on a range of
equality and diversity themes continues to be delivered
by Equality and Diversity Champions in staff areas.
Dignity at Work workshops continue to be delivered to
targeted teams with quarterly open courses set
Learning and Development calendar
A new Managing Diverse Teams course has been
introduced and delivered to a targeted management
teams with quarterly open courses set on the Learning
and Development calendar
Staff equality groups continue to work to improve and
promote race, disability and sexual orientation equality
within the Charity
Improve support and experience for staff and job applicants with mental health issues
The objective was to achieve the Mindful Employer Charter Mark
for St Andrew’s Healthcare in April 2014.
Progress:
Comprehensive review against Mindful Employer Charter
objectives was completed and St Andrew’s Healthcare
successfully accredited
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Improve our understanding of the diversity of our workforce in order to improve the monitoring of equality
of outcome on a range of employment measures
The objective was to increase workforce disclosure levels by 5%
by March 2014/15
Progress:
 There have been quarterly multi-channel Charity wide
staff communications about the benefits of disclosure in
terms of equality monitoring and assurances about
confidentiality
 Ongoing: disclosure levels as at Dec 2014 have
increased by 6.11% (sexual orientation), 6.04%
(religion/faith), 15.38% (disability). Age and gender
have remained at 100% band ethnicity dropped by just
0.58%.
Improve our understanding of how the disabilities of people in our workforce need to be taken into
account in order to provide more effective workplace support
The objective was to increase staff self-disclosure rates about
disability and access needs to reach 3% by March 2015
Progress:
 Quarterly multi-channel Charity wide staff
communications with positive messages about benefits
of self-disclosure including case studies of real staff
who have disclosed and had workplace adjustments
made
 Ongoing: as at end Dec 2014 86 staff have now selfdisclosed as having a disability under the 4 new
headings. This equates to 2.6% of employees.
Increase representation of under-represented groups (BME staff) in senior roles
The objective was to increase BME (Black and Minority Ethnic)
representation at senior management level to 7% by March 2015.
NB: This target was originally 5% but due to positive outcomes
from targeted work during the last year resulting in an increased
BME representation at senior management level during 2013/14,
St Andrew’s stretched this target to 7%
Progress:
 BME staff representation has increased to 8.4% of
senior management.
 The recruitment team developed CV preparation and
interview skills training for all staff
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Increased confidence that staff will be treated fairly in relation to disciplinary and grievance matters,
regardless of their protected characteristics
The objective was to reduce the percentage of discipline and
grievance cases involving protected characteristics to better
reflect the actual workforce diversity by March 2015
Progress:
 Ongoing: as at Dec 2014 total D&G cases involving
BME staff reduced from 40.91% to 36.36% NB: Target
is 21.08%.
 Delivery of Managing Diverse Teams training across
the Charity
 Focussed training with HR Operations Team during Q3
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Other Workforce Highlights:

The Charity has achieved the Two Ticks Award to recognise employers who
meet commitments regarding the recruitment, employment, retention and
career development of people with disabilities.

The Charity has been recognised as the 34th best LGB friendly employer in
the UK (2nd in the healthcare sector) in the Stonewall Workplace Equality
Index reflecting its commitment to ensuring sexual orientation equality for its
workforce.
Other Patient Experience and Healthcare Highlights:

The Charity has been ranked as the best healthcare provider in the UK in the
Stonewall Healthcare Equality Index 2015 (and was top 3 in 2014), reflecting
its commitment to ensure sexual orientation equality in its provision of services
and patient experience. Its patient experience and patient libraries EDHR work
have been highlighted as inspirational in the national reports 2014 and 2015.

Patients are succeeding in education, improving their life chances. Examples:
o all the young people on Allitson Ward (Neuropsychiatry) have achieved
GCSE exam passes in 2014.
o St Andrew’s College is rated Outstanding by OFSTED, providing specialist
teaching tailored to the needs of the individual patient including literacy.

Patients and staff in Birmingham won the National Service User awards 2015
for their recovery murals, including an “acknowledgement tree” on Moor Green
ward. These help to develop positive ward cultures and individual self-esteem.

Patients have been supported to take part in prestigious awards events and
schemes that help to develop their confidence and self-esteem by
recognising their achievements. For example: a patient from Ferguson ward
took part in the Koestler Arts Centre awards. His entry which was chosen from
over 8,000 entries to be shortlisted amongst 40 non visual artworks to be
exhibited at the Southbank centre in London, one of the most prestigious arts
venues in the world. The patient attended the awards event and was recognised
at St Andrew’s too.

Patients regularly share their personal experiences at meetings of Board of
Directors, Board of Governors, Management Board, Quality and
Compliance Meeting and Management meetings, Estates and Facilities
meetings and Employee Forum. This helps to communicate quickly and
powerfully about the impacts people’s work is having on people using our
services.

Patients help to recruit our workforce: in 2014 this has included our Chief
Executive, directors and advocates. Involvement may include providing patient
panels, with patients trained and preparing their own questions for candidates.
16

Patients contribute to teaching hospital work: Patients attend sessions with
Cambridge University medical students and share their mental health journey.
One discharged patient has facilitated these sessions without support.

Patients undertake work placements, such as working on receptions points
and in patient cafes as part of our “recovery volunteer” scheme.

Patients and service users are provided with supported employment
opportunities at Workbridge. This includes in the café, garden centre, printing
services, reception, offices and ceramics centre, which are open to the public.

Patients in secure settings learn vocational skills through real work
activities in Heavy and Light Industry (William Wake House) and the WWASP
unit (Northampton). Patients may go on to join Workbridge. They also develop
self-esteem and confidence through learning to make high quality products which
can be sold to the public or which are part of real contracts work. Some patients
like to use opportunities to make things as presents for their families and friends.

Patients are supported to volunteer to help community groups and
charities. Examples:
o helping people who are elderly and have disabilities to be able to manage
their gardens, helping people who are homeless, helping make good tools
to provide to people around the world and helping to restore community
open spaces.
o some patients in Birmingham made Christmas cards, gifts and decorations
which they sold in the on-site café to raise money for a local children’s
hospice which was the Birmingham site’s charity of the year.

The BENNS Patient Recovery Forum is the lead patient governance group.
It takes a lead on equality, diversity and human rights including our equality allies
work. It has LGBT and Diverse Community patient champion members.

Patient Experience team are influencing nationally including by profiling
St Andrew’s Healthcare’s work for example through our Equality, Diversity and
Human Rights Lead’s participation in a Parliamentary Reception with the
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and speaking at an event with the Sec. of State for
Communities the Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP and staff at the Home Office, to inspire
others through hearing about our patient experience EDHR work. The Director of
Nursing and our Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Lead wrote a chapter of a
textbook for use in nurse training and professional development nationally.

St Andrew’s Healthcare provides a Deaf Club in the Deaf Service for patients
and staff.
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Appendix 4: St Andrew’s Priority Equalities Objectives in 2015/16
The following areas for improvement have been identified and developed into specific equality objectives for the Charity :
Embed equalities analysis across everyday practices and processes
Long term outcome:
 St Andrew’s needs to evidence robust ‘due regard’ to
equalities and human rights across all its functions, not
just policies
Equality objective and measures:
 By end of 2015/16 to have developed equalities analysis
approaches, including audit, for practices, programmes,
projects, initiatives and service developments
 Revise reporting to Boards to support Board Members to
identify and support management of equality risks and
impacts.
 To increase the numbers of staff, patients and carers
involved in engagement activities that give them an
effective voice to help improve people’s experiences and
outcomes at St Andrew’s.
 Work with the Estates and Facilities Team to integrate
equality analysis into areas such as a fast-paced help
desk service to developing major builds and site
developments
Implement positive and safe practice
Long term outcomes
 To ensure our patients are treated in ways which promote
good working relationships, respect for enjoyment of
human rights and which are least restrictive
 To ensure positive and safe practice in all aspects of our
healthcare provision including building frontline staff
confidence in the application of human rights in their day
to day practice
Equality objective and measures:
 To ensure appropriate assessment, including
consideration of EDHR issues, is made for the specific
and individual needs of each patient in relation to any
ways of working which may restrict liberty away from the
ward and freedom of movement on the ward (including
restraint, access to facilities or service or participation in
relationships and social networks)
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




to develop a Positive and Safe Practice Patient
Reference Group by end of 2015/16 to help ensure
patient and carer voices influence our work
Staff on wards, and involved in care planning and patient
care, to be aware of the various options available within
St Andrew’s Healthcare to help improve patient
behaviour, to tackle and prevent bullying and hate
incidents/hate crime by patients
To ensure that any perpetrator behaviour such as racist
or homophobic comments, are managed to help keep
everyone safe and support patients to progress in their
recovery
Use of patients stories for reflective practice improvement
To strengthen use of equality and diversity monitoring to
check for health inequalities and perceptions of
discrimination or less good treatment in using our
services.
Implement St Andrew’s Weight Management Strategy to help improve physical health equality outcomes
of patients
Long term outcome:
 To improve the physical health outcomes of patients,
including those whose obesity is likely to cause serious
health risk
Equality objective and measures:
 To minimise unintended weight gain, promote positive
lifestyle change and work towards reducing the incidence
of BMIs over 30
 To review our Weight Management strategy and targets
to reduce obesity and improve health equality outcomes
to make sure they are the right ones.
 To report against the action plan for the revised Weight
Management Strategy and the targets set out within it
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Achieve National Autistic Society Accreditation across a range of services
Long term outcome:
 All relevant services to have achieved NAS accreditation
ensuring St Andrew’s is providing best practice care and
treatment in clinical settings with all staff appropriately
trained across the Charity in relation to autism awareness
and communication needs
Equality objective and measures:
 For all identified wards under the St Andrew’s Autism
Strategy to achieve National Autistic Society Accreditation
by end of 2015/16
 Clinical areas to work to all the required NAS standards;
all staff induction to include autism awareness; mandatory
training to include autism awareness; other autism
awareness and communication learning and development
opportunities to be identified
 We need to improve the Autism awareness of our staff,
particularly those not working in clinical settings, but who
may work with patients, carers, volunteers, visitors and
other service users in frontline roles
Improve the accessibility of St Andrew’s for people who are deaf or have a hearing loss
Long term outcome:
 Staff, patients and other people who use St Andrew’s
services should feel confident that staff are Deaf Aware
and strive to provide inclusive services
Equality objective and measure:
 To achieve Louder than Words across all our sites by end
of 2015/16
 To develop use of British Sign Language to help patients,
carers, other service users and staff, in the Deaf Service
and other places including the external website
 to improve the Deaf awareness of staff, particularly those
who may work with patients, carers, volunteers, visitors
and other service users in frontline roles
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Increase human rights awareness of patients and staff and other people who use the charity’s services
Long term outcome:
 Improved sensitivity and tailoring of services to meet
people’s specific needs and supporting recovery of
patients who need to be able to function in diverse
communities at and beyond St Andrew’s through staff,
patients, service users, their families, carers and friends
being able to understand their rights and responsibilities
and feel confident that their rights are being considered
appropriately in the day to day provision of treatment and
care.
Equality objective and measures:
 Integration of human rights into corporate induction,
mandatory training and into all relevant training courses
offered by Learning and Development Team by end of
2015/16
 Information available to patients on wards explaining their
rights to give feedback, make suggestions and be
involved in decisions about their treatment and care by
end of January 2015
 Information on human rights available on the Patients,
Families and Carers and EDHR parts of the external
website by June 2015
 Patient Information Development Group to develop
patient, carer and staff engagement in overseeing the
development and review of patient information.
 To improve awareness of patients and staff of diversity,
protected characteristics, rights and responsibilities by
participation in the “My Rights and Responsibilities”
learning set on at least 10 wards that have so far not
participated; and patients and staff to have co-developed
human rights in practice learning sets with Patient
Experience on at least 2 wards by end of 2015/16
 To increase EDHR awareness training and development
opportunities for staff (online, e-learning or face-to-face)
during 2015/16
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Increase patient influence in Neuropsychiatry through service and charity-wide level patient engagement
Long term outcome:
 Improved effective patient voice and participation in
“service user” groups in the Neuropsychiatry services
Equality objective and measures:
 By end of 2015/16 patients in Neuropsychiatry care to be
able to input, in a way they understand, and to have an
effective voice in how the service works through taking
part in groups for people using the services
 Representatives of the Neuropsychiatry service to
become members of the BENNS Central Patient
Recovery Forum
 By end April 2015 to have developed a forum and begun
to have meetings
Improve our understanding of the diversity of our workforce in order to improve the monitoring of
equality of outcome on a range of employment measures
Long term outcome:
 Reduced reticence and removal of perceived barriers to
disclosure; increased workforce disclosure levels (faith
and sexual orientation) to enable better understanding of
staff diversity, thereby enabling better analysis of equality
of outcome on a variety of measures such as pay, access
to training, promotions, performance ratings
Equality objective and measure:
 To increase workforce disclosure levels for faith and
sexual orientation by 5% and ethnicity by 3% by end
March 2016
Improve our understanding of how the disabilities of people in our workforce need to be taken into
account in order to provide more effective workplace support
Long term outcome:
 Increased staff disability equality awareness and
understanding of what is meant by ‘disability’, including
long term illnesses, and to reduce staff reticence about
Equality objective and measure:
 To increase staff self-disclosure rates about disability to
4% by March 2016
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disclosing disabilities and fear of repercussions in order to
increase understanding of the personal challenges faced
by members of our workforce and therefore enable the
Charity to better support them in the workplace by more
effective reasonable adjustments thereby enabling better
equality of outcome
Increase representation of under-represented groups (BME staff) in senior roles
Long term outcome:
 More diverse senior leadership group; continued
reinforcement of messages and training regarding
removal of any in advertent bias in recruitment and
selection processes; proactive encouragement of BME
(Black and Minority Ethnic) staff career progression
Equality objective and measure:
 Increase BME representation at senior management level
to 10% by March 2016
 Delivery of revised recruitment training to recruiting
managers
 Proactive encouragement of BME staff career
progression
Increased confidence that staff will be treated fairly in relation to disciplinary and grievance matters,
regardless of their protected characteristics
Long term outcomes:
 To ensure managers apply practices (informal and
formal) equally to staff regardless of ethnicity and build
cultural competence and confidence at all levels to
increase team harmony and reduce tensions linked to
lack of understanding regarding protected characteristics
 To reduce staff anxiety and fear of reporting
discrimination and remove perceived barriers, in order to
increase reporting levels, so that the Charity better
understands the experiences of our workforce and can
tailor training and effective interventions better to reduce
Equality objective and measures:
 To reduce the over-representation of particular protected
characteristics groups in disciplinary and grievance cases
to reflect actual workforce diversity by March 2015.
Target 20%.
 To centralise discrimination reporting so that the various
channels that staff can use are merged, post reporting,
thereby enabling a whole picture to be understood
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and prevent discrimination but to also support staff in the
workplace
Ensure staff equality network groups are properly represented by all services and are proactively driving
the workforce equality agenda
Long term outcome:
 To ensure equality network groups are properly
represented and members are proactive and their
involvement is IPDR objective linked
Equality objective and measures:
 LGBT, ABLE and RACE groups to have full
representation from all services, and be proactively
meeting and the driving workforce equality agenda.
 To revive the Birmingham, Essex and Notts equality
groups so that they are actively driving workforce equality
matters at the regional sites and linking effectively in with
the specialist network groups
 Each group member to have an associated IPDR
objective to measure their performance and contribution,
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