From 13-17 May 2019 the NHS will be celebrating the eighth Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Week #EQW2019. Co-ordinated by NHS Employers, #EQW2019 is a national platform for organisations to highlight their work to create a fairer, more inclusive NHS for patients and staff.
This week of activity aims to raise awareness of equality, diversity and human rights issues in the NHS and celebrate best practice. As the largest employer in Europe, with over 1.3 million staff, the NHS has a responsibility to remain at the forefront of the inclusion and fairness agenda for patients and staff.
Diverse, inclusive, together
The theme is diverse, inclusive, together and has been chosen to reflect the move across the health and social care sector towards even greater collaboration and integration – as reflected in the publication of the recent NHS Long term Plan. At the heart of the plan is changing culture, with a commitment towards ensuring respect, equality and diversity within the NHS.
Working together makes the NHS stronger, we meet standards, enable change and collectively invest in the creation of a diverse and inclusive NHS workforce to deliver a more inclusive service and improved patient care.
To celebrate the event, my organisation has a range of interactive and informative events across the week. Throughout #EQW2019, we will have a daily equality and diversity bulletin, each examining a different aspect of equality and diversity; furthermore we have a video webinar on the importance of diversity in the workplace as well as an interactive Q&A session with the Trusts own Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead.
Take a look at the informative video series from John Deffenbaugh (NHS Leadership Academy) who leads a discussion panel on the equality challenges faced by the NHS and the steps that can be undertake to overcome them, discussion 1 is shown below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dJB4Hm3zVs
JD
The Equality Blog 