Equality Delivery System and Public Sector
The Equality Delivery System (EDS) is a framework used to improve the services we provide to patients and the working environment for staff. It helps ensure that care is fair, accessible, and responsive to the diverse needs of local communities.
The EDS supports NHS organisations in meeting their legal duties under the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty, by focusing on three key areas:
- Services for Patients – ensuring equitable access, safety, and positive experiences for all.
- Workforce Health and Wellbeing – promoting a supportive, inclusive workplace free from discrimination.
- Inclusive Leadership – encouraging leaders to embed equality into decision-making and governance.
The latest version, EDS 2022, aligns with NHS England’s Long Term Plan and is a mandatory requirement for NHS providers and commissioners.
Public Sector Equality Duty
As part of the Equality Act 2010, the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) requires us to consider how our decisions and services affect people with different protected characteristics. This helps ensure fair treatment and equal access to healthcare and employment.
In doing so we seek to:
- Eliminate discrimination, harassment, and victimisation
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
- Foster good relations between different groups
To meet these duties, we are required to:
- Publish equality information annually, showing how they are meeting the duty
- Set and publish equality objectives at least every four years, which must be specific, measurable, and aligned with organisational priorities
- Monitor progress and engage with staff, patients, and communities to ensure objectives reflect real needs and promote transparency
Our workforce equality objectives are set out in our annual People Plan, they are co-produced following a thorough Equality Impact Assessment.
View our Patient Equality Objectives View our Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) Workforce Data Report View our workforce data here View our patient data hereEquality Objectives
Equality objectives help us demonstrate how we are meeting our statutory duties.
The purpose of the equality objectives is to help us make a real difference to some of the most pressing issues facing the protected groups that we provide services for and employ.
They will also help us demonstrate how we are meeting our statutory duties.
We have worked with our third sector and public sector partners and used what we have learnt from equality information, census and patient data to help identify our equality goals for the next four years. We have produced our annual report using the Equality Delivery System.
The Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Working Group will monitor progress of the equality objectives, how they are being mainstreamed and how risks to delivery will be identified and addressed.
Equality Delivery System – 2023/2024 ReportEquality Strategy Documents
Equality Delivery System Patient Objectives 2022 – 2024
| Outcome | Objective | Action | Completion date |
| 1A: Patients (service users) have required levels of access to the service | Support patients who face language barriers to access health services | – Conduct tender exercise for interpretation contract and implement provider – Continue BSL Health Navigator pilot and explore further funding avenues for extension – Work with local community organisations to raise awareness of interpreting services | October 2023 April 2024 December 2023 |
| 1A: Patients (service users) have required levels of access to the service | Engage with local communities and underrepresented groups for service developments and improvement work | – Engage with communities and patients to understand access barriers to services – Analyse and review attendance and non-attendance data broken down by groups (e.g. ethnicity, gender, age, postcode) | October 2024 |
| 1B: Individual patients (service users) health needs are met | 1. Support patients to be involved in their healthcare needs and support shared decision making | – Develop guidelines for writing letters to patients – Pilot guidelines in selected service(s) and gather feedback – Carry out a review of surgical patient information leaflets | October 2024 |
| 1B: Individual patients (service users) health needs are met | 2. Identify and support carers and young carers, and empower appropriate social prescribing | – Implement and monitor carers pathway in pre-assessment and share learnings trust-wide | October 2023 |
| 1C: When patients (service users) use the service, they are free from harm | 1. Support staff caring for patients and visitors from protected characteristic groups, including disabled, LGBT and religious groups | – Implement and monitor the new Accessible Information Standard policy, and support staff training – Develop training tools and guidance to support staff in caring for patients from certain protected characteristic groups | October 2024 |
| 1C: When patients (service users) use the service, they are free from harm | 2. Establish a better picture of inequalities in waiting lists | – Data analysis and audits of waiting lists disaggregated by postcode, ethnicity and other protected characteristic groups | October 2024 |
| 1D: Patients (service users) report positive experiences of the service | 1. Reach diverse communities for patient engagement activities | – Development and rollout of a patient engagement strategy which will include engagement with local communities – Monitor service user protected characteristics when analysing satisfaction from surveys, complaints and engagement activities – Use patient feedback to influence processes and interventions | October 2024 |
People objectives 2020-2024
| Objective | Action | Measure | Aim |
| Workforce Race Equality Standard | Use the NHS WRES to understand the differences in staff experience between White and BME employees and inform improvement plans | Equal Staff Experience | March 2024 |
| Workforce Disability Standard | Use the NHS WDES to understand the differences in staff experience between disabled and non-disabled employees and inform improvement plans | Equal Staff Experience | March 2024 |
| Disability Confident | Become accredited as a Disability Leader | Disability Leader Status | December 2023 |
| Gender Pay Gap Reporting | Development of an equality dashboard with key performance indicators, Equal experience, Clinical Excellence Awards | KPIs in place CEA Data | Complete Monitoring of performance indicators on-going |
