Equality and diversity

Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust serves the diverse communities of Leeds and York and we are committed to eliminating unlawful discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity.

We aim to consistently deliver inclusive services, to meet the needs of our diverse communities and make every effort to ensure that individuals are valued and treated with respect and dignity.

People should not face discrimination and should have equal opportunities irrespective of characteristics that they may have.  We know that sometimes people face discrimination and barriers to employment or services because of any of the following characteristics; age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Equality, diversity and fairness are at the heart of our five year strategy Living our values to improve health and lives 2018 – 2023.  As a provider of mental health and learning disability services, we are aware of the difficulties and distress caused by stigma and discrimination. We believe we have a collective duty to tackle this and promote more positive attitudes and behaviour.

To help us to achieve our aims we work in consultation with a range of stakeholders including; service users, carers, our staff, governors, commissioners and partner organisations, and other stakeholders.

 

You can view all our most recent reports on the Useful Information section on this page.

For copies of our previous reports please email the Diversity Team.

 

 

Equality, diversity and human rights

Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world. At Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, our values and strategy reflect the very essence of core human rights principles which are based on dignity, fairness, equality, respect and autonomy. They are relevant to day-to-day life and protect the freedom to control your own life, effectively take part in decisions made by public authorities which impact upon your rights and get fair and equal services from public authorities.

Living the life you choose

UK law includes a range of human rights that give you opportunities, control over your life and the freedom to live the way you want and make your own decisions, within reason.

This includes the opportunity to do what you want in your private life, to meet and develop relationships with other people and to participate in essential economic, social, cultural and recreational activities of the community.  You should also be able to enjoy your property and other belongings without unnecessary interference.

It is also important that everybody in Britain has access to educational opportunities. Education plays an important role in helping people achieve their potential, by opening new doors and creating opportunities.

Being safe and protected from harm

If you are under threat from someone, the government has a duty to protect you. UK law includes a range of human rights to help keep you safe from harm. This includes living in fear of strangers or neighbours, but, just as importantly, it includes living in fear of family members.

The government should not take away your freedom without good reason. Of course, there are times when a person may need to be kept in hospital against their will or imprisoned for committing a crime. The ability to move around freely is one of the most important freedoms in our society and should be protected.

Which human rights are relevant?

For further information, guidance and support visit: www.equalityhumanrights.com/human-rights

Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES)

Our Trust is committed to tackling all forms of discrimination including racial and to creating an organisation where the talents of all staff are valued and developed.

In July 2014 the NHS Equality and Diversity Council announced that it had agreed actions for the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) to be implemented across the NHS from April 2015 to ensure that employees from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds have equal access to career opportunities and receive fair treatment within the workplace.

The WRES was developed in response to findings from a number of national reports which identified unacceptable disparities in the number of people from BAME communities in senior leadership positions within the NHS and negative experiences of BAME staff within the workforce.

It aims to provide a national framework to enable NHS organisations to identify areas of potential inequalities, to benchmark progress against similar organisations, and over time to implement actions to improve race equality in the workforce.

You can download and read our Workforce Race Equality Standard Report 2023 and Action Plan for 2023 to 2024

You can download and read our Workforce Race Equality Standard Action Plan 2023.

Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES)

The NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) was introduced as a mandatory NHS standard in April 2019 and is designed to improve workplace experiences and career opportunities for disabled people working or seeking employment, in the NHS.

The WDES is important because research shows that a motivated, included and valued workforce helps to deliver high quality patient care, increased patient satisfaction and improved patient safety. The implementation of the WDES will enable the Trust to better understand the experiences of our disabled staff. It will support positive change for existing employees and enable a more inclusive environment for disabled people.

Like the Workforce Race Equality Standard, the WDES will also identify good practice and compare performance with fellow NHS Trusts.

The WDES is a series of 10 evidence-based Metrics that will provide a snapshot of the experiences of disabled staff in key areas relating to local workforce data as well from analysis of the NHS Staff Survey.   By providing comparative data between disabled and non-disabled staff, information can be used to understand where key differences lie and will provide the basis for developing key action plans, enabling us to track progress on a yearly basis.

The WDES is mandated in the NHS Standard Contract to enable comparisons to be made between NHS trusts and the WDES metrics data is reported to NHS England.

You can download and read our Workforce Disability Equality Standard Report 2023 and Action Plan for 2023 to 2024

You can download and read our Workforce Disability Equality Standard Action Plan 2022-2023

Gender Pay Gap Reporting

On 8 March 2018 Leeds and York Partnership Foundation Trust published its first gender pay gap and bonus pay gap information on the Government gender pay gap web pages. The Equality Act 2017 Regulations require all organisations that employ more than 250 staff to publish their gender pay gap information from March 2018. A summary of all the results published so far can be found on the Government’s gender pay gap web pages.

In January 2023 we published our most recent gender pay gap and bonus gender pay gap information.

For more information you can download our Gender Pay Gap Reporting Statement 2023 which can also be found in the Useful Information section on this page.

Continued work is required to reduce the gender pay gap and over the longer term, gender equality will continue to be a key focus within our workforce and organisational development plans.

The Trust aims to be in the top performing quartile of NHS organisations and to continue to reduce both the gender pay gap and the bonus gender pay gap over time.

Analysis of the pay gap by pay band and staff group is carried out regularly to identify areas of the organisation where the pay gap is higher or lower than the Trust average so we can target interventions to reduce our overall pay gaps.

Equality Delivery System (EDS) 2022

Equality Delivery System (EDS) 2022

The implementation of the EDS 2022 framework was developed to support NHS organisations to meet the requirements set out in the Equality Act 2010 and public sector duty (PSED) and is the foundation of equality improvement. It is driven by evidence and insight and provides a focus for organisations to assess the physical impact of discrimination, stress, and inequality, providing an opportunity for organisations to support a healthier and happier workforce, which will in turn increase the quality of care provided for our patients and service users.

The template below has been produced in active conversations with our patients, public, staff, staff networks and trade unions – to review and develop our services, workforces, and leadership. It comprises of eleven outcomes spread across three Domains, which are:

Domain 1 – Commissioned or provided services – this is to improve access to services, health outcomes, and experience of care and to ensure our patients and service users who have protected characteristics and from marginalized groups, are free from harm.

Domain 2 – Workforce health and well-being – The health and wellbeing of our workforce is critical, and we are best placed to support healthy living and lifestyles. The EDS recognises that our NHS workforce are also our patients, who belong to various community groups; the very same community groups that we serve as the NHS.

Domain 3 – Inclusive leadership This domain examines how our senior leadership sets the culture and tone in determining how inclusive LYPFT is. It comprises three outcomes that are a test of commitment and ‘inclusive leadership’.

Our overall EDS Organisation Rating is 40, identifying we are excelling in all domains.

You can download the full report here