NHS Services

In 'The Vital Connection' the government set a fundamental priority "to ensure that the NHS is a good employer, achieving equality of opportunity and fair outcomes in the workplace".

To this end -"All NHS boards should undertake training on managing equality and diversity" and "Leaders and managers must be developed and trained to manage for equality and diversity".

Trust managers may feel understandably overwhelmed by the torrent of anti-discrimination legislation and Codes in recent years.

These have all added to the agenda of induction and in-service training in NHS Trusts, especially for managing a diverse workforce.

However well an NHS Trust’s Board, SMT and HR circulates information about the Equality Act to managers and staff, and however good their written policies, procedures, ‘Positively Diverse’ strategies, monitoring schemes, none of these by themselves produce the behavioural changes needed to ensure equality of race, age, sex, disability, sexual orientation, religions in mainstream practice both in the workforce and in service delivery.

Busy NHS managers and front-line teams continually tell us they want to be equipped with the practical ‘tools for the job’ for implementing, or ‘operationalising’, their diversity policies and the Equality Act in their everyday practice.

• see Law and Policies into Practice for a report of findings of a felt-needs survey of 400 NHS operational managers, and HR managers

Training Workshop Topics

A. Law and Policies into Practice: Managing Diversity

We have provided hundreds of workshops on Managing Diversity for NHS Boards, Senior Managers, Clinical Practitioners, Team Leaders and HR. These do not just set out what the laws say, but explain what they mean in terms of practical managerial skills needed for compliance in the NHS. We equip team leaders with agendas, action checklists and materials to cascade learning in continuing team development. All Trusts are different – so our training is customised collaboratively to match a Trust’s specific needs, job functions, and local community situation.

• Contact Us if you’d like to see a sample Workshop Outline on Managing Diversity, run for over 30 NHS Trusts, together with full data feedback reports on its effectiveness – OR if you’d like to see our list of over 56 NHS Trust clients.

Recruitment interviewing across cultures

Tribunals draw adverse inferences if managers/recruitment panels are not equipped with skills of cross-cultural communication to ensure fair interviewing.

• Contact Us to see sample workshop outline: Recruiting across Cultures (run for 18 NHS Trusts; with independent evaluation reports).

Performance appraising a diverse workforce

A workshop to identify and dismantle glass ceiling barriers; covers gender, disability, race, both in relation to competencies frameworks and performance measuring, and covers gender and race discrimination in appraisal interviewing. Outline available; click Contact Us 

Harassment

Policy implementation, whether of race, sex, disability or religion; with current Tribunal case-studies and up-skilling for handling and advising complaints, together with strategies for proactive prevention of harassment.

“NHS organisations must take action to ensure the NHS is free from harassment … Each local employer should be able to demonstrate a year on year increase in the level of confidence that staff have in their ability to tackle harassment at work” Government NHS Circular, The Vital Connection

• see Contact us to see outline of Workshop on Harassment (run for 22 NHS Trusts; independent evaluations available)

B. Workshops for equality of access and treatment in patient care/customer service

“Service providers must train and support staff to dismantle communication barriers that stop users from getting the services they need” Government NHS Circular, The Vital Connection

We develop the cross-cultural communication skills needed for front-line service interactions by doctors, clinical practitioners, reception and administrative staff with public/patients from different cultural backgrounds.

• click on ‘Cultural Awareness and skills of cross-cultural communication' in left-hand column to see sample workshop conducted at 56 NHS Trusts.