The Equality Act 2010

Equality Diversity & Human Rights and the NHS Equality Delivery System

Introduction

Equality and Human Rights are for everyone. Those rights are there for our service users and our staff, both of which are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect. Equality is relevant to everyone. The Equality Act 2010 has identified 9 ‘protected characteristics’ of an individual which evidence shows can lead to the person or groups of people experiencing unfair treatment resulting in unequal outcomes. We know sometimes people face discrimination and barriers to employment or access to services because they have of one or more of the following characteristics:

Because of Age

Because of Disability

Because of Gender Reassignment

Because of  Marriage or Civil Partnership

Because of Pregnancy and Maternity

Because of  Race

Because of Religion or Belief

Because of a person’s Sex

Because of Sexual Orientation

The law protects people in these groups. Everyone will be a member of one or more of these groups at some time so equality and equality of opportunity is relevant to everyone.

On these web pages we will show you how we are meeting our new Public Sector Duties. You can find out:

Information - What we know about our population, their health and well-being, and the people and staff who use the services we commission and about the staff who work in this organisation.

What the things we know tell us and how we have used equality information to design and improve services and the experiences of people who work in this organisation.

What the NHS Equality Delivery System is and why it’s important for people who use services and the staff who work in these services.

Our Equality Objectives - What our priorities are and how we are working with others to agree these.

If you would like to go straight to our data page or see equality information about other NHS services we commission please click on the following links:

To find out how we meet our duties click here

Equality Data and Information

Working towards our Equality Objectives

The NHS Equality Delivery System

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Sheffield Health & Social Care NHS Foundation Trust

NHS Sheffield is a ‘commissioning organisation.’ That means we assess the health needs of the Sheffield population and ask other NHS Trusts and organisations to deliver services in the city. The largest health providers are other NHS organisations in Sheffield.

We have worked together as commissioners and providers to make sure that the information we provide on our web pages about Equality, Diversity and Human Rights is set out in the same way so that it is easier for you to find out how well our service providers are doing in terms of their duties under the Equality Act.

Our Legal Duty

Publishing this information is a requirement specified in the Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) Regulations 2011, section 2: Publishing of Information.

Section 149 of the Equality Act outlines the general duties to have due regard to the following in the exercising of our functions:

• Eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act
• Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it
• Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

Section 149, 3 of the Equality Act explains what is involved in “having due regard”:

• Remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by persons who share a relevant protected characteristic that are connected to that characteristic
• Taking steps to meet the needs of persons who share a relevant protected characteristic that are different from the needs of persons who do not share it
• Encouraging persons who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life or in any other activity in which participation by such persons is disproportionately low.
• The steps involved in meeting the needs of disabled persons that are different from the needs of persons who are not disabled include, in particular, steps to take account of disabled persons’ disabilities.
• Having due regard to the need to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it involves having due regard, in particular, to the need to tackle prejudice and promote understanding.

 

This is the first time we have published this data. We welcome feedback on the quality and coverage of our data as this will help us improve our future publications. If you would like to discuss anything further regarding the information on this page please contact

NHS Sheffield Headquarters

722 Prince of Wales Road
Sheffield
S9 4EU

Tel: (0114) 305 1000
Fax: (0114) 305 1001
Email: shef-pct.enquiries@nhs.net

If you would like any of the information on these pages in a different format please contact the Patient Services Team on: 0114 271 2400 or email PST@sth.nhs.uk

The information on this site also covers Social Care because Sheffield Health and Social Care Foundation Trust provides Health and Social Care services.

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