Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion - Our plan for 2021-22

Summary 

As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, it has become ever clearer that COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act and the most deprived sections of our society. This has shone a stark light on the need to address the continuing impact of inequalities on people’s access to and outcomes from health and social care services.

This document lays out the steps we will take to apply an Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion lens on all our work in 2021-22 and our plan to ensure everyone should have a fair and equal experience using health and social care.

Objectives

• Ensuring that every piece of policy work we undertake is designed to deliver real-world impact that addresses Equality, Diversity and Inclusion issues.
• Ensuring that we continue to develop an evidence base that informs our work more accurately and reflects the diversity of the community we represent.
• Fostering a workforce culture that promotes and embraces Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
• Involving and consulting with individuals and groups as necessary and develop our work streams through local and national partnerships where appropriate.
• Providing support to local Healthwatch to challenge local systems to be better on Equality Diversity and Inclusion and providing them with the tools and skills to carry out engagement that will put Equality, Diversity and Inclusion issues on the table of local decision-makers.
• Conducting appropriate and proportionate Equality Impact Assessments when planning our work and assessing how effective these have been in ensuring our work has factored in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion issues.

Download a copy of our plan to find out more.