Equality and diversity

Equality and diversity really matter to us. We support equal opportunities and believe that everyone deserves a fair chance. We are committed to treating people with dignity and respect. We do this by:

• Making clear commitments on equality
• Reflecting these commitments in our organisational policies and governance arrangements
• Striving to help patients and staff reach their full potential

We are assessed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) who measure our performance against essential standards of quality. This ensures that we are reaching satisfactory standards of equality.

The law and equality

The Equalities Act 2010 bans unfair treatment and helps achieve equal opportunities in the workplace and in wider society. To find out more about this Act, click here.

Single Equality Scheme

NHS Bristol Single Equality Scheme 2009 - 2012 was developed, as required by the legislation, in partnership with communities and key stakeholders, including Bristol Community Health managers and staff. This is a three year scheme (2009 - 2012) that places responsibility for equality and diversity on Bristol Community Health, to meet the needs of patients, particularly in terms of access to health care and for improving the outcomes for disadvantaged communities. Bristol Community Health also has a responsibility to support equal opportunities in employment and recruitment, to ensure non discriminatory practices and policies and to aim for its workforce to be representative of the community it serves. Each year, a 12 month Single Equality Scheme action plan is produced informed by the objectives outlined in the Single Equality Scheme.

Equality Impact Assessments

Equality Impact Assessments help us to establish the potential a service, policy or function has to have an unequal impact on a particular group or community. This includes the impact of a policy or function on employees, existing and potential service users, and the wider community.

Bristol Community Health has a legal duty to carry out an Equality Impact Assessment when:

• A policy or service has been identified as having a relatively high potential for unequal impact to occur.
• New policies and service changes are introduced

To view and download the most recent Equality Impact Assessments please see the document downloads section to the left.  To request older Equality Impact Assessments please click here to fill out a contact form.

What is equality monitoring?

Equality monitoring is the process we use to collect, store and analyse data about people's ethnicity, gender, gender identity (transgender), disability, age, religion or belief and sexual orientation.

Why do we monitor patient equality data?

Under the Race Relations Amendment Act and the Disability Discrimination Act, and the Equalities Act we have a legal obligation to monitor patient equality data. In order to deliver effective services to the public, it's essential that we have accurate information on what the needs of service users are. Monitoring allows us to:

• Understand potential barriers to services
• Ensure appropriate services are developed when people from certain communities are more affected by particular medical conditions
• Look at health inequalities between different groups Improve the way we meet the language, religious and cultural needs of all patients.
• Measure performance, improvement and change