Public sector equality duty compliance

Setting and publishing equality information is part of NHS Kernow's compliance with the Equality Act (2010) and the Clinical Commissioning Group's demonstration of meeting the Public Sector Equality Duty.

NHS Kernow's overarching equality objectives are as follows:

• Changes across services are informed by engagement of patients, professionals and local communities, and transitions are made smoothly;
• Embed the principles of the Accessible Information Standard 2015 (section 250 of Health and Social Care Act 2010);
• Staff receive equal pay for work of equal value; and
• Staff are free from abuse, harassment, bullying, violence from both patients and their relatives and colleagues with redress being available and fair for all.

Employer and equality and diversity awards

NHS Kernow has been awarded:

• Department for Work and Pensions Disability Confident Accreditation, awarded June 2015;
• NHS Employers Equality and Diversity Partner status, 2012/13 and 2013/14; and
• Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion (ENEI) Silver Standard Award for Tracking Diversity Performance, May 2013.

Mindful Employer

NHS Kernow has signed up to the Mindful Employer initiative, which is is run by Workways, a service of Devon Partnership NHS Trust. This is a long term pledge and with the right support, people with mental health issues can and do stay in work and can be a real asset to our business. 

The Charter for Employers who are Positive about Mental Health is a voluntary agreement seeking to support employers in working within the spirit of its positive approach.

We have signed up to a commitment to: 

• Show a positive and enabling attitude to employees and job applicants with mental health issues. This will include positive statements in local recruitment literature;
• Ensure that all staff involved in recruitment and selection are briefed on mental health issues and The Equality Act 2010, and given appropriate interview skills;
• Make it clear in any recruitment or occupational health check that people who have experienced mental health issues will not be discriminated against and that disclosure of a mental health problem will enable both employee and employer to assess and provide the right level of support or adjustment;
• Not make assumptions that a person with a mental health problem will be more vulnerable to workplace stress or take more time off than any other employee or job applicant;
• Provide non-judgemental and proactive support to individual staff who experience mental health issues; and
• Ensure all line managers have information and training about managing mental health in the workplace. 

Gender Pay Gap 

All employers with 250 or more employees (NHS Kernow has around 270 employees) are now required to publish annually figures setting out the average pay gap between men and women as a mean (average hourly basis) and median (hourly pay average of the person ‘in the middle’). You can read our report here.