Your chance to contribute to the NHS new equality standard for disabled staff

Wed,28 September 2016
News Health & Social Care

NHS trusts will be required to assess whether disabled staff face discrimination from 2018, as part of a new Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES), proposed by NHS England.

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More about the Workforce Disability Equality Standard

There are (at least) six reasons to improve workforce disability equality:

  1. Discrimination and bullying makes staff ill and affects the culture of the NHS
  2. Doing nothing diverts resources and prevents patients getting the best care
  3. Boards are less likely to reflect patients and local communities
  4. Diversity nurtures best talent and improves innovation and teamwork
  5. The NHS provides services to significant number of disabled people and should connect in new ways
  6. Disability Equality Helps to break down the ‘them and us’ culture

Liz Sayce, Chief Executive of Disability Rights UK, said:

“For the NHS, employing people with lived experience of disability or long-term health conditions is a major asset: these staff can draw on their own experiences to show understanding, empathy and role modelling to people using services: people who have recently acquired health conditions or injuries often feel discouraged, and meeting health professionals with their own lived experience makes a significant difference. The WDES should enable the NHS to increase its quality of service and to attract talent”

You are invited to respond to this consultation or contact the contracts team directly on england.contractsengagement@nhs.net by Friday 21 October 2016. Please note that there are no set questions so we would ask you to particularly comment on the proposal for a mandated Workforce Disability Equality Standard.