Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is committed to meeting the Equality Act 2010 duties and the development of a human rights based approach across the services it provides and to the support it provides to the staff it employs.

Following a period of consultation with all our Staff Networks, EDI leads and other internal and external stakeholders including third sector organisations and Healthwatch, the following equality objectives were identified:

  • Our organisation will have a Zero acceptance of racism, discrimination and disrespectful behaviours, adopting a programme of Allyship, Civility and Respect, with a commitment to establish a Just and Learning Culture, with restorative justice.
  • We will build up the voice of our patients, carers, service users and staff from the range of all the protected characteristics, providing different ways to hear from our communities and understand how by working together, we can make improvements and bring about effective change.
  • We will review our equality governance and introduce robust systems and processes, to ensure we are accountable and understand our responsibilities to address inequality and uphold Human Rights.
  • We will have a real drive to move equality and inclusion forward through new ways of working, so we can plan more inclusively and deliver services that are accessible, effective and safe, to all the communities we serve.
  • We will create a place to work, where all our staff feel they really belong and can be themselves, where they will have the means to perform, develop and use their diverse insight and passion to shape our organisation.
  • We will work to grow and develop our workforce building upon its rich diversity, culture and identity, empowering our staff to achieve their full potential and where they understand our commitment to improvement and doing our very best in all we do.

The Trust has also been committed to completing the NHS Equality Delivery System (EDS) to assist in identifying Equality Objectives and support developments across the Trust to meet those Objectives. 

Setting the objectives

The objectives are set by using the EDS 2 Goals:

  • Better health outcomes
  • Improved patient access and experience
  • A representative and supported workforce
  • Inclusive Leadership.

Consideration has been given to the previous year’s objectives and outcomes and this is then used in the Equality and Human Rights Action plan along with other quality contracts such as the Quality Account. Feedback from Staff Networks is also used in determining the Equality Objectives.

The aim of the Equality Objectives

By using the Equality data collected from the previous Equality Objectives the Trust aims to identify how by use of further Equality Objectives and Equality and Human Rights Action Plan experiences by service users and staff are improved in relation to protected characteristics.

Improving service user experience, improving Board analysis of equality information, inclusion of Equality and human rights into Trust strategy, service developments and equality analysis has been agreed to ensure that equality and human rights are at the heart of the Trust internal processes to ensure they continue to be fundamental to its work. They have been set within a time frame to enable clear goals which can be both evaluated and developed alongside the EDS2 process.