Providing equality, diversity and inclusion support to NHS Coventry and Warwickshire ICB

NHS Coventry and Warwickshire ICB needed specialist support from equality, diversity and inclusion experts to demonstrate its compliance with a range of regulatory and mandatory duties. The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team from the collaborative Communications and Engagement service at Arden & GEM and Midlands and Lancashire CSUs put together a tailored package of support covering delivery capacity and strategic capability.

This approach has successfully delivered reporting and returns including the Public Sector Equality Duty Annual Report and the Equality Delivery System return. The process used to produce these key outputs has also helped ICB leaders in better understanding their organisation and its stakeholders to continue developing in EDI maturity.

The challenge

Ensuring patients and communities have an equitable experience of and access to healthcare is a moral, statutory and regulatory commitment for all ICBs. Additionally, all NHS organisations must comply with the Equality Act 2010 and produce mandatory reports to ensure they are meeting their equality, diversity and inclusion duties.

A key part of these duties is the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), a legal requirement included in the Equality Act 2010, that applies to most public bodies across Great Britain. It requires those public bodies to take account of equality, discrimination and good relations between different people in the way they make policy, deliver or buy goods and services, and employ people. With responsibility for commissioning healthcare services for a population of a million people, NHS Coventry and Warwickshire ICB needed support to demonstrate statutory EDI compliance, particularly with regards to the PSED.

Our approach

The EDI team discussed the support required with ICB colleagues and assembled a dedicated team with a blend of day to day delivery capacity and strategic advice and oversight. The team provided the tailored support and specialist knowledge needed to keep the ICB safe and compliant, including meeting its PSED requirements.

Public Sector Equality Duty Annual Report
The ICB was supported to produce an annual report on its compliance with the PSED, including data and information to demonstrate progress in achieving EDI objectives over the previous year. Examples included:

• EDI activity to engage with, promote, support and encourage the work of staff networks and recognised forums
• resources made available to ensure staff feel confident to access the health and wellbeing schemes according to their individual needs.

Producing an Equality Delivery System (EDS) return
The EDI team facilitated production of a return in line with the new Equality Delivery System (EDS) across all three domains – commissioned or provided services, workforce health and wellbeing, and inclusive leadership. An implementation plan was developed and delivered collaboratively with relevant service lines.

Information was gathered to measure and assess progress in promoting equality. For each domain, this included:

• Developing bespoke templates for the collation and analysis of evidence
• Coordinating and facilitating stakeholder and external engagement events to grade and evaluate the domain outcomes
• Making recommendations and advising on action plans
• Delivering the EDS report for submission to NHS England by the agreed deadline
• Publishing the report on the ICB website.

Statutory and regulatory reporting
Support was given to help the ICB in completing a number of statutory and mandatory reports for the Government and NHS England. Using proven templates and methodologies to collect and analyse data and identify trends, the following mandatory reports were produced:

• NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES)
• NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES)
• Gender Pay Gap (GPG).

Working closely with the Arden & GEM Human Resource team, data was collected with support and advice provided to resolve any data quality issues. Accurate, anonymised and fully GDPR compliant data could then be included in the reporting returns.

The reports provided information relating to the ICB’s employees, captured benchmarks to enable progress to be measured, and identified priority areas for further research and action. They also showed how the ICB carries out its statutory duties to promote and monitor equalities.

All necessary returns were completed and the ICB was provided with redacted and unredacted versions of the reports for governance purposes and publication on its website.

Turning recommendations into action
In addition to delivering the mandatory reports, the team also provided strategic advice and guidance including developing equality objectives and consolidated equality actions from the report content that aligned with the NHS England EDI Improvement Plan. The team also:

• Helped to reinvigorate the EDI Staff Network, relaunching and defining the context for ongoing development
• Provided training including ‘Governing EDI in an ICB’ to executives and senior leaders, and Equality Impact Assessment training for staff responsible for policy development and implementation.

Outcomes

This essential specialist support has helped the ICB to meet its legal obligations, meet external standards and be accountable to the public. Using an efficient and proven approach to EDI reporting and planning has saved the ICB time and resource, freeing capacity for internal staff to focus on improvement actions.

ICB leaders now have a greater understanding of their organisation and its stakeholders, providing a sound base on which to develop their EDI maturity. Through analysing WRES, WDES and GPG data, the team was able to recommend changes to strategies and policies that promote accessibility and inclusivity, resulting in a more supportive workplace for all.

Find out more about our support for equality, diversity and inclusion.