NHS England has set targets for trusts that will force them to better support international staff, improve diversity in senior leadership positions and eliminate bullying, as part of its first equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) improvement plan.
The plan, published today, comes as the health service workforce is more diverse now than at any point in its 75-year history, NHS England said.
It noted in the report that a diverse workforce in an inclusive environment would “likely improve staff engagement, lower turnover and enhance innovation”.
However, workforce data demonstrated that there was “more to do” before the NHS could say that inclusive workplace environments are commonplace, the plan explained.
For example, recent Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) and NHS Staff Survey data has revealed that many underrepresented groups are subject to discrimination, bullying and harassment.
The EDI improvement plan has prioritised six “high impact actions” to address discrimination and bias across the NHS.
These actions will be monitored and measured against the annual surveys and reports, including the WRES, NHS Staff Survey and the National Education and Training Survey.
One of the actions is focused on improving experiences for internationally educated staff and asks trusts to each implement a “comprehensive induction, onboarding and development programme” for new recruits.
The plan argued that this type of package would help internationally educated staff “feel valued from the start” which would help with retention.
As part of this, NHS organisations have been set key objectives to better support internationally educated staff, which must all be met by March 2024.
One of these is to ensure that international recruits receive “clear communication, guidance and support around their conditions of employment”, said the report.
Other objectives include ensuring that line managers and teams “maintain their own cultural awareness” to create inclusive team cultures, and proactively support international staff to access training and development opportunities.
Another of the six actions that has been put forward is around eliminating pay gaps.
The EDI plan called on NHS organisations to analyse data to understand different pay gaps by protected characteristic “and put in place an improvement plan”.
Based on current data sets, plans should be in place for sex and race by 2024, disability by 2025 and other protected characteristics by 2026.
Meanwhile, another action outlined in the plan is for NHS organisations to address health inequalities within the workforce, by reducing bullying, increasing civility and having “a robust approach to all abuse and harassment”.
“This will address some common causes of ill health, absenteeism and turnover within the workforce which disproportionately impact on those with some protected characteristics, and will improve inclusive team working, staff health and wellbeing,” the plan said.
“Today’s plan will target action to ensure the NHS fully supports and benefits from its diverse workforce”
Amanda Pritchard
NHS England has also put forward an action which pushes organisations to “create an environment that eliminates the conditions in which bullying, discrimination, harassment and physical violence at work occur”.
The report highlighted how bullying and harassment at work “results in increased sickness absence and employee turnover”.
As such, NHS organisations have been told to review data by protected characteristic on bullying, harassment, discrimination and violence, and to set reduction targets to improve staff experience by March 2024.
They have also been tasked with reviewing disciplinary and employee relations processes, to ensure that all staff who enter into formal processes “are treated with compassion, equity and fairness, irrespective of any protected characteristics”.
In addition, comprehensive psychological support for all individuals who report that they have been a victim of bullying, harassment, discrimination or violence must also be implemented by March 2024.
Under the plan, chief executives, chairs and board members working in the NHS must have “specific and measurable EDI objectives” to which they will be individually and collectively accountable.
The report said that people holding these senior positions will be assessed against these objectives during their annual appraisal processes, by March 2024.
Another action outlined in the plan was for “fair and inclusive recruitment processes and talent management strategies that target underrepresentation and lack of diversity”.
NHS organisations and integrated care boards (ICBs) have been told to implement a talent management plan to improve the diversity of executive and senior leadership teams by June 2024, and evidence of this implementation by June 2025.
NHS England has said it will provide guidance to assist trusts and ICBs in implementing this plan, supported by good practice and a dashboard to enable the measurement of progress.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, said: “The diversity of the NHS workforce is one of its greatest strengths, and the evidence shows that ensuring our staff work in an environment where they feel they belong, and can safely raise concerns, ask questions and admit mistakes, is essential for staff morale – which, in turn, leads to improved patient outcomes.
“So, today’s plan will build on progress made in recent years and target action to ensure the NHS fully supports and benefits from its diverse workforce – attracting talent, retaining skilled staff, ensuring greater diversity in leadership roles, and supporting colleagues to deliver the best possible service for our patients.”
Meanwhile, Dr Navina Evans, NHS England’s chief workforce, training, and education officer, said that it was “vital that all staff are given the support they need to progress in their careers”.
She added: “Workforce diversity helps keep more staff, makes it easier to recruit staff, and improves care for patients.
“Improving equality, diversity and inclusion is everyone’s responsibility, starting with leaders. I have faith my colleagues will rise to this challenge.”