Equality & Diversity Annual Report 2018

Equality & Diversity Annual Report 2018 Contents Introduction to the Trust Our Aims, Vision & Values Equality Objectives 2014 - 2018 Supporting Individuals to Gain Employment Staff and Patient Profiles Further Information 2 Introduction to the Trust Welcome to Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust. As our name suggests we specialise in the health of women and their babies - both within the hospital and out in the community. Collectively our team represents some of the most outstanding expertise and experience in this field. And, as the only such specialist trust in the UK - and the largest women’s hospital of its kind - we are dedicated to your care and well-being. We are very much part of the fabric of the local community. Each year our Trust, a professional team of 1,400 people, takes care of more than 50,000 patients from Liverpool, the surrounding areas and across the UK. As well as delivering care within the hospital we work in the heart of the community, providing care for patients at various clinics across the city. The services provided are for Maternity, Neonatal, Gynaecology, Hewitt Fertility and Genetics. Every day, on average, 24 babies are born in Liverpool Women’s Maternity Unit and another 3 babies are born prematurely and cared for in our Neonatal Unit. As the largest single site maternity hospital in the UK, we pride ourselves om being the hospital of choice for thousands of expectant mothers. As one of the only trusts in the UK dedicated to the care of women, we understand sensitivities of female health and offer a comprehensive range of gynaecology services. Put simply, gynaecology is the clinical are focused on the health of the female reproductive system. The Trust boasts one of the world’s leading reproductive medicine units, The Hewitt Fertility Centre. The centre gives couples their very best chance of a successful pregnancy. The Trust has substantially invested in the very latest technologies to get success rates of the centre to the point where they are actually as good as the very best in the world, and certainly the best in the North West. When you consider that it is also the largest reproductive medicine facility in the country, performing an average of over 3,000 treatment cycles a year, that is quite an achievement. The role of genetics in healthcare is one of the most rapidly expanding areas of development. Liverpool Women’s provides a regional genetics service known as the Merseyside and Cheshire Genetics Service - serving a population of around 2.8 million people across Merseyside, Cheshire and the Isle of Man. 3 Our Aims, Vision & Values At Liverpool Women’s we have a common goal - to provide excellent healthcare for women, babies and their families in a safe, friendly and caring environment. We are proud to push the boundaries of healthcare for our patients and their families and we continue to influence national and international research and development in these fields. Our Vision The vision for Liverpool Women’s is to be the recognised leader in healthcare for women, babies and their families. Our aims – We see To achieve our vision we aim for the best in everything that we do whether that is making sure our patients are as safe as possible and have the best experience possible or whether that is in the development of our staff and the management of our resources. • To develop a well led, capable, motivated and entrepreneurial Workforce; • To be ambitious and Efficient and make best use of available resources; • To deliver Safe services; • To participate in high quality research in order to deliver the most Effective outcomes; • To deliver the best possible Experience for patients and staff. Our values – We care and we learn The values that are important to us at Liverpool Women’s are based around the needs of our patients and our staff. The behaviours we encourage in all our staff are to make sure that our values are delivered every day in the same way. • Care – we show we care about people. • Ambition – we want the best for people. • Respect – we value the differences and talents of people. • Engage – we involve people in how we do things. • Learn - we learn from people past, present and future. 4 Equality Objectives 2014-2018 Under specific duties of the Equality Act 2010, the Trust is required to publish one or more specific measurable equality objective(s), at least once every four years. The equality objective(s) must help to further the three aims of the Equality Duty which are to: • eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act. • advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it. • foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it. The following six equality objective titles were set for 2014-2018, a selection that have been completed are presented within this report. Equality Objective 1. Collection and analysis of equality data from both patients and staff • Enable staff to be able to update their own personal records, including equality related data – Completed by spring 2018 Equality Objective 2. Engagement • Encourage other areas of the Trust to engage with representatives of all protected characteristics when making decisions that may affect patient care/service design/development or organisational change/ change to estate or buildings – EIA policy and guidance produced Equality Objective 3. Training and Development • Provide all staff members with an individual mandatory training passport – all staff have received their passport for 2017/18 Equality Objective 4. Patient Information • Accessible website containing patient information – New website implemented in summer 2017, fully accessible website. As of October 2018 the Trust has now transferred all leaflets into electronic format with the option to translate into different languages. Equality Objective 5. Actions around learning disability in the Trust • Ensure that all staff have learning disability awareness training – Keep staff informed with skills and knowledge to care for service users with learning disabilities and an appreciation to the reasonable adjustments that may need to be made for service users with a learning disability. Equality Objective 6. Workforce • Publish Gender Pay Gap Report on Trust website in line with target dates provided 7 Equality Objective 1. Collection and analysis of equality data from both patients and staff Part of our aim for this objective was to review the recruitment of BME staff into positions within the Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust. Following this, we completed a unconscious bias audit for recruitment in 2017. Background The Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) 2018 report assesses the “Relative likelihood of BME staff being appointed from shortlisting compared with White staff being appointed from shortlisting across all posts”. The 2018 data showed that white staff were 1.85 times more likely to be appointed from interview stage when compared to BME staff. Although the data had improved since 2017, when the figure was 2.29, the figure highlights a potential issue with the unconscious bias amongst recruiting managers. Therefore, an audit on a range of posts advertised in 2017 was conducted. The purpose of the audit was to determine whether there was any evidence of either conscious or unconscious bias demonstrated by the recruiting managers during the process. 8 Findings We reviewed 6 posts of different bands that had been advertised on NHS Jobs. We reviewed the Equal Opportunities information and the interview assessment forms that are completed at interview. When applications are reviewed for shortlisting, the recruiting managers only have access to qualifications and employment history. Reasons given for not shortlisting BME applicants were ‘experience’ and ‘knowledge’. At interview, there was not a significant scoring difference between BME and white candidates, the lowest being 2 points and the highest at 14 points. Again, the reasons given were that “experience and knowledge” discussed at interview impacted on the higher scoring. There was no bias evidenced when reviewing the scoring sheets that had been completed by the interview panel members. Overall Conclusion From reviewing the 6 posts, there was no evidence that obvious bias had occurred, in that there was no evidence of inappropriate comments or distorted scoring. It is obviously difficult to say whether unconscious bias has occurred as there is the potential for a BME candidate to be denied a job opportunity because of a preference towards a white candidate or a ‘halo’ effect, rather than an overtly negative view towards a BME person. Indeed, it can be seen that although BME candidates score less than white applicants they are still scoring high at interviews. Next Steps As an immediate step we implemented unconscious bias training as part of the HR training “Effective People Management” presented by a member of the HR Team. Unconscious bias information is provided to managers during this training session to raise awareness. This is also included in the Equality & Diversity Mandatory Training Presentation which is part of Trust Induction; all new starters to the Trust attend this training. This is to give staff self-awareness when starting employment at Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust. Good practice suggests that interview panels should be diverse and include BME staff. In practice this is not going to be achievable for all posts but should be looked at where possible; this is an action that is rolled over into the Equality Objectives 2019 - 2021. Equality Objective 2. Engagement A key objective we had set for “Engagement” was to utilise NHS staff networks, consult with members of the various staff networks when planning service or organisational change. As we did not have any active network groups within the Trust we contacted all staff and asked if they identified themselves as either BME, LGBTQ+ or disabled to contact the Equality &Diversity Advisor so we could arrange for networks to be formed.

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