Equality information
From 31 January 2011 we are required to publish – at least once a year – equality information to demonstrate compliance with the three aims of the Equality Duty within the Equality Act 2010. The aims of the Equality Duty are to give due regard to eliminating unlawful discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
We have published a range of equality data and information which will be reviewed during 2012. Our Equality Objectives will be published by April 2012.
Equality information enables us to understand the impact of our policies and practices on the people who use our services and on our staff. It helps us to identify areas for concern and informs our action planning.
We are using the equality information to inform the development of our Equality Objectives, ensuring a direct relationship between the data and findings and the priorities we are setting for our organisation.
The equality information is being used as part of the evidence we need to be able to evaluate our position against the Equality Delivery System patient, service user and workforce outcomes. The Equality Delivery System is a nationally developed tool for measuring equality performance.
What information are we publishing?
There is no standard set of information that is laid down for all public sector organisations to publish. However, there is guidance on the sort of information that could be included from the Equality and Human Rights Commission which we have followed.
Our equality information includes an annual patient and membership equality profile, our patient survey findings, an annual workforce equality profile and our staff survey findings by equality and diversity indicators where these are recorded.
We carry out equality analysis when developing our policies and services to understand the effects they may have on people from different groups that we should consider in the development and planning stages.
Who do we engage with about our equality information and equality and diversity issues?
Engaging with people who use our services and with our staff is fundamental to understanding their particular needs and what matters to them.
The equality information has been discussed with patients, carers, members, governors, directors, managers and staff. Feedback was used to develop action plans and Equality Objectives.
The Equality and Diversity Committee, which includes patient, carer, governor, staff and staff-side representatives, discusses and approves the published equality information, identifying and endorsing areas for action and monitoring the progress.
Key engagement on equality issues for our patients and other service users is conducted through a number of internal and external forums which include our Patient and Carer Advisory Group, Council of Governors, Members (through special Members Events), the Older Persons Action Team and the Learning Disabilities Partnership sub group.
For our staff, formal engagement is through the Trust Consultative Committee and local engagement includes the Employment Partnership groups, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Network, and focus groups such as maternity returner sessions and staff with disabilities.
Wherever we can we benchmark our services with other NHS trusts and organisations to ensure we are constantly striving to deliver the best services and provide the best employment opportunities.
Feedback from the engagement is shared as appropriate, for example with the Equality and Diversity Operational Group or the Equality and Diversity Committee.
We also have patient experience and staff experience feedback and focus groups. For some of the protected characteristic areas where we do not have local data, we have looked at national information and talked with national or local charitable and voluntary organisations about the issues for the people they represent.
Future developments
We recognise that we do not currently gather local data for patients, members or staff for all the protected characteristics. Plans are being developed to address the gaps where possible and appropriate.
These actions will be incorporated into The Royal Marsden Equality Objective action plans and discussed as part of the implementation of the Equality Delivery System.
Where data is captured by national systems work is being done to make changes to the appropriate data sets to ensure that information or data related to protected characteristics are able to be captured and used to facilitate the analysis of service provision. This work will also include reviewing the capturing and monitoring of data related to the workforce, patient and staff surveys.