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Equality Delivery System

The NHS Equality Delivery System in Berkshire
The Equality Delivery System (EDS) has been designed by the Department of Health to help all staff and NHS organisations understand how equality can drive improvements and strengthen the accountability of services to patients and the public.

It is essentially an NHS equality benchmarking tool. EDS will help ensure that everyone - patients, public and staff - have a voice in how organisations are performing and where they should improve in relation to healthy living and working lives. It also is a tool-kit for NHS compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and the equality elements of the CQC essential standards.
For further information about how EDS operates in Berkshire, please click on the following links below:

To talk to someone about EDS in Berkshire or for information in alternative formats please email: equalityfeedback@berkshire.nhs.uk

Or you can contact:

Participating NHS organisations in Berkshire
The EDS has been designed to be used by all NHS organisations in England, both providers and commissioners.

The following Berkshire NHS organisations have agreed to work together on EDS rating in 2011:

South Central Ambulance service will conduct their own EDS rating process as their geographical coverage extends outside of Berkshire.

It is hoped that as the grading process becomes more established, all Berkshire NHS bodies including the proposed Clinical Commissioning Groups, will sign up.

EDS Outcomes and objectives
At the heart of the EDS is a set of 18 equality outcomes grouped into four goals. These outcomes focus on the issues of most concern to patients, carers, communities, NHS staff and Boards. It is against these outcomes that performance is analysed, graded and action determined.

The four EDS goals are:

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

More details on EDS can be found here

Engaging with local health interest groups and the public in Berkshire
The EDS requires NHS organisations to engage with local communities and organisations with an interest in health issues to determine performance through a grading exercise. In July 2011, NHS organisations in Berkshire held two events in Reading and Slough to introduce the EDS system to the voluntary sector. Views on key health concerns and suggestions for introducing the rating system were gathered.

Following the July events, the Berkshire EDS Task and Finish group, led by Bev Searle (Director of Joint Commissioning for NHS Berkshire), decided to appoint an Equality Panel to represent the diversity of the Berkshire population in the rating process.

The Equality panel has been structured to include as much representation as possible from people with a range of protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act 2010 and well as local geographical health interests.

To complement this process, an online questionnaire will be available to anyone receiving NHS services in Berkshire. This evidence will be used in the rating process. There will also be a series of face-to-face visits to organisations whose views are often excluded in panel or online exercises.

Take part in the online questionnaire survey here. The survey is open from 3rd October till the 1st November.

Feedback from the July 2011 Engagement Events
Detailed reports of the July engagement events on EDS held in Slough and Reading can be viewed here:

The NHS Equality Panel for Berkshire
In September and October Berkshire NHS organisations are inviting members from a range of geographical areas and identities in Berkshire to sit on the Equality panel. The panel will meet in the first week of December 2011. Representation will be drawn from:

The panel will be around 25 in number.

The EDS Grading Process
The Department of Health has produced a grading manual to accompany the process. You can read the full manual here.

Panel members will receive a briefing on how to use the Grading Manual to allocate the available scores.

Four grades are available:

Panel members will need to review the evidence provided by NHS organisations for each equality outcome and for each protected characteristic within it.

The grading is evidence based. Where no evidence can be provided, the grade will remain at ‘undeveloped’. Detailed guidance and worked examples on how to score are contained within the manual.

The grades allocated will refer to the performance of the organisation as a whole, taking into account differing performance of multiple sites.

To inform the grading process, each NHS organisation will provide a detailed written report summarising evidence available from JSNAs, published patient survey feedback, staff survey feedback, as well as internal monitoring data by mid November. This information will form the basis of the data required by law on 31 January 2012 and will form part of legal compliance with the Equality Act.

The panel will also be asked for its views on future NHS equality priorities required by law by April 2012.

Equality Act 2010
Whether at work as an employee or in using a service, the purpose of the Equality Act is to ensure that everyone has the right to be treated fairly at work or when using services. It protects people from discrimination on the basis of certain characteristics. There are known as ‘protected characteristics’ and they vary slightly according to whether the person is at work or using a service.

There are nine protected characteristics for employees:

disability, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race religion or belief, sexual orientation, sex and age.

There are eight protected characteristics for people who use services:

disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, sex and age (over 18s only will be protected as of April 2012).

Under the Equality Act 2010 NHS organisations also have a general public sector equality duty to ensure that due regard is given (in policies/services) to the need to:

www.equalities.gov.uk/equaities_act_2010

www.equalityhumanrights.com

Equality and Human Rights Commission: Tel. 0845 604 6610.

Easy Read & Quick Guide to EDS - Presentation Slides

Department of Health information and contacts on EDS
This includes all information on objectives, outcomes, grading, guidance and contact details. Visit the website here.

Find out more about the participating NHS organisations in Berkshire

NHS Berkshire

 

 Berkshirehealthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Heatherwood and Wexham Hospital Foundation Trust

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