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Our Trust on inclusion Spotlight
Spotlight on inclusion Our Trust is one of the most diverse in England, with a workforce of over 8,500 that reflects north west London’s communities and cultures. We are committed to creating a positive culture of inclusion in everything we do, strengthened by our HEART values: a culture where staff feel included regardless of who they are or what they do; a workplace where
staff are equally involved and supported to be the best that they can be. By developing a culture that embraces inclusion, we can create an environment where our diverse patient population receive the highest standards of care that – meets their individual needs, and is delivered with dignity, compassion and respect.
Creating a culture of inclusion: everyone counts Obi Maduako-Ezeanyika, Assistant Director of Organisational Development and Learning, who is responsible for equality diversity and inclusion, looks back on the progress made during 2020, and forward to the priorities for the coming year that will work to shape and strengthen our culture of inclusion.
Board priorities The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the lives of our staff and the communities that they serve. The Obi Maduako-Ezeanyika impact has been felt most acutely among those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, people with disabilities and our older colleagues. In response, the Trust Board identified a number of priorities to quickly address those key inclusion issues that affect the working lives of our staff. These priorities include: • Our executive directors being champions for diversity and inclusion. Leading on issues such as ethnicity and disability to ensure that the Trust is taking action to address inequality and influencing changes to tackle behaviours and structures that are barriers to inclusion. In these roles, executive directors act as visible champions and advocates for diversity and inclusion. • Board members have also been actively involved in our mentoring and reverse mentoring programmes for BAME staff. This has enabled them to gain insight and better understanding of Trust issues faced by BAME colleagues. This in turn helps to inform the thinking and decision making of the Board about issues that affect our patients.
Strengthening engagement During 2020 we have continued to strengthen our engagement with staff through listening events and working in partnership with our staff networks. COVID-19 has meant that events have taken place virtually. These meetings have had a positive impact on staff morale and helped to broaden our reach across the organisation in a way we were not previously able to do. Most importantly, we are listening to our staff and acting on their feedback.
We have also been able to involve external expert speakers at these events including Yvonne Coghill, Director of Workforce Race Equality Standard Implementation NHS England, Professor Kevin Fenton, Public Health England National Director for Health and Wellbeing and Dr Habib Naqvi, Director NHS Race and Health Observatory. We will be extending more invitations to guest speakers during 2021.
Disability inclusion We continue to create a positive culture where negative attitudes and behaviours about disability and sexual orientation can be challenged. We believe that our staff networks can be strong partners in realising this goal. During 2020, we achieved Disability Confident Employer (level 2) status demonstrating our commitment to increasing our appeal to disabled people. We have relaunched our Disability Inclusion Network which will act as a powerful advocate for our disabled staff. Similarly, we are exploring how we can better support staff with caring responsibilities. We also worked closely with the BAME Network to implement COVID risk assessments for staff and the launch of a staff helpline. Our staff networks provide informed feedback that helps ensure that we continue to make improvements that meet the needs of our staff and enhance the care provided to our patients.
Developing leaders and supporting progression One of our key priorities is creating an inclusive leadership at all levels of the organisation. In 2020, we launched several innovative development initiatives and programmes that will help increase the diversity of our leadership. We have already: • Launched the progressive 2-7 development programme: a career development programme for staff at AfC bands 2-7 • Launched cohort two and three of the BAME leadership programme • Appointed three BAME non-executive directors to strengthen diversity of decision making at the board level • Undertaken a full review of our recruitment and selection processes for inclusive practices • Introduced recruitment and selection equality champions to sit on recruitment panels. Champions provide oversight and advice on equality and diversity during recruitment.
