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Equality and Diversity at Bedford Hospital

The equalities agenda has seen significant changes over the past three years with the introduction and amendments to significant legislation. All public authorities have a responsibility to ensure their policies and services are reviewed to reflect this changing legislation and produce equality action plans to identify where improvements could be made.

Single Equality Scheme

The Single Equality Scheme sets out the Trust’s commitment to taking equality into account in everything we do, whether that is providing healthcare services to our local population, employing people, developing policies or communications and involving people in our work.

To access Bedford Hospital’s equality scheme please click on the link below:


Bedford Hospital's Single Equality Scheme 2010-2013

NHS Equality Delivery System (EDS)- Have Your Say

Bedford Hospital NHS Trust will be working with other public sector organisations in the county this year to implement a new Equality Delivery System (EDS) to improve the way in which people from different groups are treated as service users, carers and employees in the NHS. The EDS is a tool for NHS organisations, in partnership with patients, the public and staff to use to review their equality performance and to identify equality objectives and actions.

The EDS will be used in every NHS organisation in England meaning that wherever you go for NHS services you will find organisations working to the same set of nationally agreed objectives and outcome. The objectives are common across the NHS. These are:

  1. Better health outcomes for all
  2. Improved patient access and experience
  3. Empowered, engaged and well supported staff
  4. Inclusive leadership at all levels

Within each objective are a set of outcomes which we will be graded against (see below for more detail).

So what makes this different from everything else that happened before and how can I contribute to the EDS?

To make the EDS work properly we need those that use the service to provide us with information and feedback on the services we provide in terms of equality, therefore it is extremely important that we not only speak to the whole community in Bedfordshire, but that we also get them involved in the process. What this means is that there will be opportunities for local communities to help us govern what we do around equality and diversity. This could mean being involved in rating how well we are performing. However it could also mean that you help us to ensure providing services that meet the needs of all protected characteristics.

What are protected characteristics?

Protected characteristics refer to all the different groups of people that are covered under the Equality Act 2010 – the main piece of legislation that protects people from discrimination in the UK. These are:

  • Age
  • Disability
  • Ethnicity/Race
  • Gender
  • Gender reassignment
  • Marriage and Civil Partnership
  • Pregnancy and Maternity
  • Religion and Beliefs
  • Sexual Orientation

Over the next few months, we will be meeting with local community groups, staff and patients to gather information and feedback around their experience of using our services. This data will then be used by us to review the services we currently provide and help us to plan future provision. The aim is to ensure that our services are as inclusive as possible by highlighting what we currently do well and which areas we need to improve on.

As a result of this analysis, the organisation and local interest groups (made up of community groups, staff and patients) will award a grade for each outcome to rate us in line with the EDS standards and then produce an action plan based on the result of this grading. The grading system will be critical in supporting the organisation to gauge its current position and the continuous progress we need to make in order to embed equality into the mainstream business

The gradings’ are:

· Excelling - Purple

· Achieving – Green

· Developing – Amber

· Underdeveloped - Red

If you would like more in-depth information on the EDS, full details can be found on this site in the following documents:

The Equality Delivery System for the NHS – Making Sure Everyone Counts. This contains background information on the EDs, why it is needed, how it should be implemented and what role different groups play towards achieving the standards.

The Equality Delivery System for the NHS – Grades Manual if you would like more detail on the goals and grading system.

We will also be publicising relevant data, outcomes and action plans as they apply to the EDS as they become available. These will be on the Trust website.

If you would like further information on how Bedford Hospital NHS Trust is implementing the EDS or you would like to get involved in helping us with this in any way please contact Jo Fossey on 01234 355122 ext: 5562 or email jo.fossey@bedfordhospital.nhs.uk.

Milton Keynes Community Health Services MKCHS

MKCHS is currently being hosted by Bedford Hospital. To find out more about MKCHS’ equality duty compliance please visit the equality pages of their website.