Newcastle Pride 2015
Press Statement
“As an NHS trust employer we celebrate our diverse workforce and recognize the contribution it makes to our organisation’s culture and the services we provide.
“Many of the people in our community have specific needs that we need to address as both a provider of services and as an employer. Events like Newcastle Pride are a great way to show our staff how much we support them, to show the community that we are here for, without discrimination, and to promote ourselves as an equal opportunities employer to the lesbian gay bisexual and transgender community.”
If asked:
What we do
Work within the nation NHS framework for Equality – Equality Delivery System2
Signed up to Stonewalls Diversity Champions scheme and assess our progress using their Workplace Equality Index annual assessment process. This helps to guide our work towards being an LGBT inclusive employer and service provider
Have an Equality Strategy and action plan, monitored by the Workforce Committee, our new staff LGBTQA group helps to keep us on track and manage work
Some of the things we’ve done over the last year:
- Developed an LGBT mentoring arrangement with Gentoo
- New staff LGBTQA group
- Staff LGBT Facebook and intranet page helps us to keep staff involved and updated
- Targeted promotion of vacancies to LGBT support and community groups
- Developed recruitment promotional material highlighting ourselves as an LGBT friendly
- Attended Durham, Newcastle and will attend Sunderland Pride
- Provided specific support for LGBT staff through our counselling service
- Participated in the Workplace Equality Index and Health Equality Index
- Identified an LGBT role model to help to raise awareness of issues internally
- Increased the number of LGBT people working for the Trust
- Helped to re-launch the national LGBT Ambulance group
- Promoted the Trust as an LGBT friendly employer in regional LGBT media
- Increased the profile of the CEO at staff and public LGBT events
- Secured a Board Champion for Equality Issues