NHS HUMBER CLUSTER (A Joint Board for East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, North Lincolnshire Primary Care Trusts and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus) EQUALITY PLAN AND OBJECTIVES 2012-2016 Date: March 2012 If your first language is not English, or if you would like this document in a format for people who are blind or have visual problems, we can make arrangements to help you. Please contact Phone: 01482 672156 Textphone: 01482 315747 Fax: 01482 672024 Nëse dëshironi ndihmë me këtë dokument, ju lutemi telefononi 01430 457351 Eğer bu döküman ile ilgili olarak yardım istiyorsanız, lütfen 01430 457353 numaralı telefonu arayınız. Potrzebujesz pomocy w zrozumieniu tego dokumentu? Zatelefonuj pod 01430 457367 The NHS Humber Cluster comprises NHS Hull, NHS East Riding of Yorkshire, NHS North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus Page 2 of 49 NHS HUMBER CLUSTER (A Joint Board for East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, North Lincolnshire Primary Care Trusts and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus) EQUALITY PLAN AND OBJECTIVES 2012-2016 CONTENTS PAGE 1 Welcome 3 2 Introduction 4 3 The Equality Act 2010 6 4 The Human Rights Act 1998 9 5 NHS Equality Delivery System 10 6 Our Staff 11 7 Area Equality Plans and Objectives 12 7.1 NHS East Riding of Yorkshire 12 7.2 NHS Hull 23 7.3 NHS North Lincolnshire 34 7.4 NHS North East Lincolnshire 41 8 MONITORING AND EVALUATION 46 Appendix 1 - Summary of the Human Rights Act 1998 47 The NHS Humber Cluster comprises NHS Hull, NHS East Riding of Yorkshire, NHS North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus Page 3 of 49 NHS HUMBER CLUSTER (A Joint Board for East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, North Lincolnshire Primary Care Trusts and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus) EQUALITY PLAN AND OBJECTIVES 2012-2016 1 WELCOME Welcome to our Equality Plan and objectives for 2012-16. Our equality plan and objectives focus specifically on how we will positively contribute to a fairer society and good relations in the way we work across NHS Humber Cluster. NHS Humber Cluster is a joint Board accountable for the statutory duties of East Riding of Yorkshire Primary Care Trust, Hull Primary Care Trust, North Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus. The NHS Humber Cluster comprises NHS Hull, NHS East Riding of Yorkshire, NHS North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus Page 4 of 49 2 INTRODUCTION Our Equality Plan and objectives for 2012-16 are linked to local Health Strategies and describe how NHS Humber Cluster and the four local Clinical Commissioning Groups, covering the East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire will lead and deliver our equality commitment. This plan builds on the previous work of our local Primary Care Trusts/Care Trust Plus and brings together our statutory duties and covers our commitment to equality issues and Human Rights following the introduction of the Equality Act 2010. Developing this plan has been led across our four geographical areas via the emerging Clinical Commissioning Groups listed above and through the engagement of local people, service leads within the NHS, diverse groups, wider public sector organisations including Local Authorities and the voluntary/community sectors. The Clinical Commissioning Group Committees for East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire have committed to: • Identifying a clinical and lay lead for equality and diversity. • Providing equality training to ensure that the clinical, Human Resources, Commissioning and Public Health leads are trained in Equality Impact Analysis. • Contributing to the publication of equality information required at PCT/Humber Cluster level. • Continuing to actively seek views from diverse groups within their area to inform decisions made by them. The NHS Humber Cluster comprises NHS Hull, NHS East Riding of Yorkshire, NHS North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus Page 5 of 49 The Equality Plan includes separate chapters for each geographic area in the Humber Cluster, providing more detail about each area‟s specific plans and objectives for the period 2012-2016. The NHS Humber Cluster comprises NHS Hull, NHS East Riding of Yorkshire, NHS North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus Page 6 of 49 3 THE EQUALITY ACT 2010 The Equality Act 2010 came into force on 1 October 2010. The Act brings together and replaces the previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act, which aims to simplify and strengthen the law, removing inconsistencies and making it easier for people to understand and comply with it. The Act covers the following protected characteristics: Age. Disability. Gender reassignment. Marriage and civil partnership (only in relation to the requirement to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination). Pregnancy and maternity. Religion or belief (or lack of belief). Race, including ethnic or national origin, colour or nationality. Sex. Sexual orientation. 3.1 General Duty The Act also includes a new general equality duty that replaces previous separate duties on race, disability and gender equality. This came into force on 5 April 2011. The NHS Humber Cluster Board (acting on behalf of the four PCTs in our area) is covered by the general equality duty. The aim of the general equality duty is to ensure that public authorities, and those carrying out public functions, consider how they can positively contribute to a fairer society through advancing equality and fostering good relations in their day to day activities. The duty ensures that equality considerations are built in to the The NHS Humber Cluster comprises NHS Hull, NHS East Riding of Yorkshire, NHS North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus Page 7 of 49 design of policies and the delivery of services and that they are kept under review. We are required to have due regard of the need to: Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct that is prohibited by the Act. Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant characteristic and those who do not. Foster good relations between people who share a relevant characteristic and those who do not. To make sure we comply with the Act we must: Remove or minimise disadvantages experienced people due to their protected characteristics. Take steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people. Encourage people with protected characteristics to take part in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low. 3.2 Specific Duties Specific duties set out in the Equality Act 2010 promote better performance of the equality duty by requiring the publication of: Equality objectives, at least every four years. Information to demonstrate compliance with the equality duty, at least annually. The NHS Humber Cluster comprises NHS Hull, NHS East Riding of Yorkshire, NHS North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus Page 8 of 49 These tell us the steps we need to take to demonstrate we are paying due regard to the general duty. To make sure we comply with both the general and specific duties we will: Prepare and publish our equality objectives, in our Equality Plan, by 6 April 2012. This will include information on the actions we intend to take to meet the objectives, how we will measure our progress and how long we expect to take to meet our objectives. Make arrangements to monitor our progress against objectives and evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken. Give consideration to the equality information we hold when considering and reviewing our equality objectives. Review our equality objectives at least once every 4 years. Involve a broad range of people in setting our equality objectives, reviewing our equality plan and identifying how our work can contribute to the general equality duty. Carry out equality impact analysis on policies, strategies and decisions about services. Collect and publish relevant equalities information about our staff on an annual basis (where we have 150 staff or more). Produce an equality progress report on an annual basis ensuring it is made available in accessible formats. The NHS Humber Cluster comprises NHS Hull, NHS East Riding of Yorkshire, NHS North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus Page 9 of 49 4 THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 1998 The Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998 details how the UK complies with and implements the rights and freedoms guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights. All public bodies have an obligation to ensure respect for Human Rights, acting in ways that positively reinforce the principles of the HRA 1998. The HRA 1998 came into force in October 2000 and enabled people to enforce the European Convention on Human Rights in the UK courts. Article 14 of the Human Rights Act 1998 refers to the prohibition of discrimination, and states that the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set out in the European Convention on Human Rights shall be secured without discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status. A summary of the HRA Convention Rights is attached at Appendix 1. The NHS Humber Cluster comprises NHS Hull, NHS East Riding of Yorkshire, NHS North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus Page 10 of 49 5 NHS EQUALITY DELIVERY SYSTEM The NHS has introduced an Equality Delivery System (EDS) designed to support NHS commissioners and providers to deliver better outcomes for patients and communities and better working environments for staff, which are personal, fair and diverse. The EDS aims to assist organisations to achieve compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty in a way that also helps deliver on the NHS Outcomes Framework, the NHS Constitution and the Human Resources Transition Framework.