Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Hospital Trust believe in creating a culture where differences are valued. To do that well, we strive to ensure that we recruit from the communities we serve. This enables us to foster an inclusive culture that welcomes, supports, and celebrates the diverse voices of our employees, as well as our patients, families and visitors. We refuse to condone any discrimination based on age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, race, religion, sexual orientation or any other basis for treating people unfairly. Health equality is at our core, which is what drives us to work even harder to acknowledge and support those from marginalised groups. We will work together to be a Trust where inclusivity is always our starting point.

Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Hospital Trust is a disability confident committed employer. We are committed, under the Equality Act 2010, for reasonable adjustments to be made for employees who have disabilities or health conditions. We endorse the ‘Two Ticks’ disability scheme to meet the five commitments regarding the employment, retention, training and career development of disabled employees.

The ‘Two Ticks’ scheme is recognition given to employers based in the UK who have agreed to take action to support the needs of disabled employees. It is represented by the purple ticks disability symbol (as seen below) that our Trust is authorised to display.

   

 

What are the ‘Two Ticks’ and reasonable adjustments at the Interview Stage? 

The two ticks logo indicates a disability that may require support in the workplace. Applicants can declare they have a disability when completing their application on NHS Jobs and if any reasonable adjustments are required, they should notify the employer when confirming the interview.

What Commitments Do Employers Make?

Employers who use the symbol have agreed that they will take action on these five commitments:

• To interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy and consider them on their abilities.
• To ensure there is a mechanism in place to discuss, at any time, but at least once a year, with disabled employees what can be done to make sure they can develop and use their abilities.
• To make every effort when employees become disabled to make sure they stay in employment.
• To take action to ensure that all employees develop the appropriate level of disability awareness needed to make these commitments work.
• Each year to review the five commitments and what has been achieved, plan ways to improve on them and let employees and Jobcentre Plus know about progress and plans.

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We are committed to ensuring that all our women, children and families receive excellent communication throughout their journey with us, regardless of what language they speak.

Our interpreters are fluent in a number of languages. For languages that our interpreters don’t speak, we look to use an external translator. If you think you may require an interpreter, please let the department you are visiting know well in advance of your appointment so that one can be arranged. Learn more about our interpreters.

At BWC, not only do we support our patients with their EDI issues, we also acknowledge and support our staff members too. Our staff networks are; IDEA, GUARDIANS, DAWN, LGBTQ+ and WOMEN.

• IDEA – Inclusivity, Diversity and Equality in Action. Social Action Group - Promoting Respect, Dignity and Fairness throughout BWC for the benefit for all
• GUARDIANS - Guiding Unity and Advocating for Race, Diversity and Inclusion: A Network for Staff. Our ambition is to proactively work towards zero tolerance on inequalities and discrimination.
• DAWN - Disability And Wellbeing Network. Our inclusive network is for our staff who need support with disabilities, long term sickness and mental health or just need a safe space to talk about their needs and to be heard.
• LGBTQ+ - This network group is aimed at LGBTQ+ staff and their allies. Our aim is to promote the visibility of LGBTQ+ staff within the Trust and to provide a safe space for people to connect, discuss experiences and provide peer support.
• WOMEN – The women’s network aspires to boost morale whilst concentrating on improving employee experience and confidence within the workplace. It provides an open forum for our colleagues to share their experience of the workplace in a supportive and safe environment. 

The Trust expects both staff and managers to behave in accordance with our values and that managers will strive to ensure that the Trust’s diversity objectives and targets are met. This includes targets on the constitution of recruitment panels and ethnicity targets so that we are as diverse in our teams as are the patients and families we look after. For example, we have set the following staff Ethnicity Banding targets:

19% by Sept 2022

23% by Sept 2024

27% by Sept 2026

We have recently updated our EDI Policy which applies to all staff and other individuals working within the Trust. We also do not condone discrimination from service users towards anyone working or volunteering at our Trust, and this will be dealt with on a case by case basis if any incidents occur. Under the Equality Act 2010, the scope of this Policy includes protection from ‘prohibited conduct’ related to the following protected characteristics; age, disability, pregnancy and maternity, race, sex, religion or beliefs, gender reassignment, marital status and civil partnership and sexual orientation.