Annual Equality Report 2019 - 2020

Below is a summary of the key findings against each area of the Trust equality, diversity and inclusion programme: 

Race

• The proportion of BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) staff grew by 49% or the equivalent of an extra 157 people over the seven years from 2014 to 2020.   
• There was 200% growth, an additional 12 staff, in senior management with work underway to continue to improve the talent pipeline and meet the goals for a more representative senior leadership. 
• 79% of BAME staff felt the Trust provided equal opportunities for promotion, 11 points higher than the community provider benchmark.
• There is a six year increasing trend in BAME staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues in 2019, being addressed through closer freedom to speak up engagement and the launch of racialThere is a six year increasing trend in BAME staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues in 2019, being addressed through closer freedom to speak up engagement and the launch of racial justice resources for individuals and teams.

Religion and Belief 

• The proportion of staff (71.4%) sharing their beliefs grew by 23% over the past six years.
• The score for Hindu staff safety is 6.9 out of 10, in relation to bullying and harassment. The Trust average for all staff is 8.3 out of 10.
• 23.1% (n. 26) of Hindu staff in the Trust report discrimination from patients or the public. The national average is 11.5% for Hindu staff. For Muslim staff in the Trust it is 19% (n. 21) and the national average is 13.8%.
• Non-religious staff score on average more positive experiences of equality and anti-bullying than most religious staff.

Gender

• The workforce is 86% female and 14%male. We cannot evidence representation for Trans or non-binary people.
• The size of the male workforce grew by 24% over the past seven years; four times bigger than the 6% growth in the female workforce.
• Women were just under one-and-a-half times as likely to experience bullying from colleagues as men.
• Measuring across the Trust as a whole there is no gender pay gap; measuring that gap just in operational divisions shows on average women earned 9% less than men.

Sexual Orientation

• Three percent of the workforce shared with us that they identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). There has been 66% growth in people sharing this information over the past seven years; or an additional 65 more individuals over that period.
• The Trust is the safest NHS provider for LGB people in relation to workplace bullying in the Sussex system, and safer on average than the community healthcare sector in England.
• LGB staff score the Trust for equality, diversity and inclusion better or the same as other NHS providers in the Sussex system and better or the same than the national community provider benchmark averages.

Disability

• 7% of the workforce shared that they identify as disabled on their staff record, growing by 62% over the past seven years, the equivalent of an additional 138 people.
• People sharing their disability remain relatively under-represented in more senior roles.
• People who were not disabled were 1.5 times more likely to be appointed from shortlisting than disabled people within recruitment.
• Disabled staff on average reported equal opportunities in promotion and career progression seven points lower than non-disabled people.
• 77% of disabled staff felt the Trust made adequate adjustments to enable them to work.

Age

• Of all the age groups, the 61+ years group has grown the most over the past four years at 47%, or the equivalent of an extra 177 more people.
• Staff in the 51-65 years group scored the lowest safe environment score for bullying and harassment of any age group at 8.2 out of 10.
• Staff in the 41-50 years group scored the lowest equality, diversity and inclusion score of any age group at 9.3 out of 10.

Patients

We upgraded and piloted our Systm1 patient administration system to capture demographic and accessible information needs about patients.

Trust - Wide Inclusion

Across 2019-20 we delivered Trust-wide initiatives to advance equality of opportunity, to eliminate discrimination and to foster good relations:

• Developing and delivering inclusive leadership masterclasses to 101 staff
• Producing and publishing a racial justice allyship guide for staff and an anti-racism workshop
• Writing risk assessment guidance for vulnerable staff during COVID-19 and leading the development of online staff networking
• Supporting staff with over 60 equality and human rights analyses

Conclusion

There has been much progress in advancing equality, with further work required to remove structural and cultural barriers by increasing representation and promoting inclusive leadership and allyship behaviours and leveraging our role as a healthcare provider to promote health equity.

Across 2020-21 we will increase support for staff to promote inclusive leadership and cultural humility at work.

The end goal remains thriving and culturally competent staff providing inclusive care to promote positive health outcomes and address health inequalities.