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About Us

Equality, Diversity and Human Rights

Equality, Diversity and Human RightsAs a public body, NHS North Yorkshire and York has a duty to eliminate discrimination and promote equality across all of its functions, including the delivery of its services and its employment practices.

We aim to deliver healthcare services that are equitable to everyone regardless of age, disability, race, ethnicity or national origin, gender, religious belief, sexual orientation, domestic circumstances, trade union membership (or non membership), social or employment status.

This booklet describes some of the practical ways NHS North Yorkshire and York has found to address the Equality and Diversity agenda.

Equality

Equality is about ensuring all people are treated fairly and equally and that any decisions made are based on objective relevant criteria.

Diversity

Diversity is about recognising and valuing the different contributions that all staff, patients, carers and families can bring to the organisation.

More information is available in the sections below:

  Public Sector Equality Duty 2011 Page Link
  Equality Schemes and Action Plans Page Link
  Equality Impact Assessments Page Link
  Workforce Monitoring Information Page Link
  Useful Links Page Link

Mindful EmployerWe believe in developing a workforce that is valued and respected and whose diversity reflects the community it serves, and have signed up to the Mindful Employer initiative. This is a Charter for Employers who are Positive about Mental Health and is a voluntary agreement seeking to support employers in working within the spirit of its positive approach.

All patients are entitled to request translation or British Sign Language services at any point during their care. Please speak to any member of staff or contact our Patient Relations team for more information.

We aim to involve patients, communities the public and its employees and develop a more inclusive and partnership approach. For further information please contact our Patient Relations team.

Patient Privacy and Dignity

Delivering Same Sex Accommodation

NHS North Yorkshire and York is committed to ensure that we commission services that meet the privacy and dignity needs of our patients. This is a key indicator in relation to the quality of care that patients receive in our local hospitals.

Our local hospitals are expected to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation, except where it is in the overall best interest of the patient, or reflects their personal choice.

We have agreed with our service providers how they will determine whether or not a particular episode of mixed sleeping accommodation is justified and will audit data quality and publish the results. In doing this we will ensure that all episodes of unjustified mixing are captured and reported and thereby provide patients with the confidence that mixing is restricted to those circumstances where it is genuinely in the patients’ best interest.

We continue to work with a number of service providers to ensure our patients receive care that meets the principles of delivering same sex accommodation, which are:

  • There are no exemptions from the need to provide high standards of privacy and dignity

  • Men and women should not have to sleep in the same room, unless sharing can be justified by the need for treatment, or by patient/service user choice

  • Men and women should not have to share mixed bathing and WC facilities, unless they need specialised equipment such as hoist or specialist baths

  • Patients/service users should not have to pass directly through opposite-sex areas to reach their own facilities (in some circumstances, mixing of the sexes can be justified)

  • Decisions should be based on the needs of each individual patient/service user, not the constraints of the environment or the convenience of staff

  • Where mixing of sexes does occur, it must be acceptable and appropriate for all the patients/service users affected

  • In mental health and learning disability services there should be provision of women only day rooms on wards where men and women share day areas

  • In mental health and learning disability services, boys and girls should not share bedrooms or bed bays and toilets/washing facilities should be same sex.

  • For many children and young people, clinical need, age and stage of development may take precedence over gender considerations.

We are pleased to state that all services are now reporting full compliance with the criteria as set out by the Department of Health.

Details of the organisation’s individual statements can be found by the links below:    

News on privacy and dignity in hospitals 

The NHS Constitution states that all patients have the right to privacy and to be treated with dignity and respect. Our hospitals and provider services are committed to informing their communities about steps they are taking to improve the patient experience in respect of privacy and dignity.

To find out more, please visit our Trusts’ websites (see links above) or you can read more about the work they are doing in their Quality Accounts, available directly from the individual Trust or from their website.

Faith Calendars

Find dates for religious festivals and holy days for the coming 3 years using the BBC Multifaith Calendar or view the CIPD Diversity Calendar for 2011.

Further Information

For further information please contact:

Please note we cannot guarantee the security of the global internet/email systems. Please read our terms and conditions for more information

Alternatively, you can write to:

Equality and Diversity
NHS North Yorkshire and York
The Hamlet
Hornbeam Park
Harrogate
HG2 8RE.

 

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