About equality and diversity

The Equality Act 2010 has replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act.  It simplified the law, removing inconsistencies and making it easier for people to understand and comply with. It also strengthened the law to help tackle discrimination and inequality.

As part of the Act a public sector equality duty came into force; the Trust consciously thinks about the three main aims of this Duty as part of the process of decision making:

• 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 Trust also takes account of disabled people's impairments in making decisions about policies or services which might mean making reasonable adjustments or treating disabled people differently to non-disabled people in order to meet their needs.

Our approach to equality and diversity is to follow the social model, originally linked to disability but applicable to all protected characteristics with the view that "Loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in society on an equal level with others due to social an environmental barriers" therefore we aim to provide accessible premises and services for everyone embedding equality and diversity into everything we do.

To measure our equality and diversity performance we have adopted the Equality Delivery System (EDS) as recommended by the NHS England Equality and Diversity Council.