Our commitment to equality
Disability champion
The trust employs a disability champion, Heidi Buckell, to support staff with a disability and/or long term health condition. The trust is currently recognised at Level 2 of the Disability Confident Scheme.
West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is committed to ensuring equality, diversity, inclusion and human rights are central to the way we deliver healthcare services to our patients and how we support our staff.
We are proud to be a significant employer in Hertfordshire; our sites across the county bring diversity to our workforce representing a broad spectrum of cultures, nationalities, and backgrounds. Our catchment areas present us with unique challenges and opportunities.
Our aim is to eliminate health inequalities and promote equal access to appropriate and quality services.
More details about the great offer to staff, including our award winning staff networks, are here.
Below are the Trust’s statutory reports that NHS employers are required to publish to show their progress towards equality, diversity and inclusion.
The Equality Act 2010 protects patients and staff against discrimination where people have the following protected characteristics:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender re-assignment
- Marriage and civil partnerships
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Race (including nationality and ethnicity)
- Religion or belief
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
West Herts aims to go over and above this legal minimum.
Public Sector Equality Duty
Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is required to the meet the General Duty to provide people protection from discrimination and to actively promote equality for both patient and staff groups who fall within the nine protected groups.
The PSED supports the Trust with its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion for all. The PSED requires the Trust to:
- Advance equality of opportunity
- Foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not, and
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
How the Trust meets these duties is shown in the documents below.
- View the Public Sector Equality Duty Report 2022-2023
- View the Public Sector Equality Duty Report 2021-2022
- View the Public Sector Equality Duty Report 2020-2021
Gender Pay Gap and Ethnicity Pay Gap Reports
All employers are required to write and publish their Gender Pay Gap report on an annual basis. The Trust writes and publishes their Race Pay Gap as best practice measure.
The main purpose of the two reports is to monitor whether the Trust is making progress towards its aim of achieving pay equity, where people’s pay is based on merit and not a protected characteristic, such as gender or ethnicity. It prompts:
- analysis of where the inequalities are concentrated, such as pay bands or staffing groups
- reflection on the successes (or otherwise) of last year’s action plans and
- action plans for the coming year that are predicted to have the greatest impact in achieving equity.
For more information we invite you to read the full reports below
- Ethnicity Pay Gap report 2024
- Gender Pay Gap report 2024
- Gender and Ethnicity Pay Gap report 2022-2023
- Gender and Ethnicity Pay Gap report 2021-2022
NHS Equality Delivery System
The Equality Delivery System (EDS) is an assessment tool designed to measure NHS equality performance with an aim to produce better outcomes for our patients and workforce.
It measures three areas of our work:
- Commissioned or provided services
- Workforce health and wellbeing
- Inclusive leadership
More details about this tool are here: NHS England » Equality Delivery System 2022
Workforce Race Equality Standard & Workforce Disability Equality Standard
These NHS national standards are known as the WRES and WDES. They measure nine and ten key indicators respectively for these two protected characteristics. Reporting on these indicators helps the Trust to:
- analyse current inequalities and the reasons behind these
- reflect on the successes (or otherwise) of last year’s action plans and
- create an action plan for the coming year that are predicted to have the greatest impact in achieving equity.
Workforce Race Equality Standard Reports
- Workforce Race Equality Standard report 2023-24
- Workforce Race Equality Standard report 2022-23
- Workforce Race Equality Standard report 2021-22