The Equality Delivery System is designed to support NHS commissioners and providers to deliver better outcomes for patients and communities and better working environments for staff, which are personal, fair and diverse. The Equality Delivery System is all about making positive differences to healthy living and working lives.  

NHS Devon is building on the good work already developed under the Single Equality Scheme and continues to promote the commissioning of healthcare services to meet the needs of people with protected characteristics and described in the Equality Act 2010.  

NHS Devon is declaring its status as developing for:

• Goal 1 - Better health outcomes for all
• Goal 2 - Improved patient access and experience
• Goal 3 - Empowered, engaged and well-supported staff
• Goal 4 - Inclusive Leadership at all levels

A full explanation of the grading system is described more fully in the Equality Delivery System Final Grades manual.  Further information will be published over the next few months.   

Equality Objectives

The purpose of setting specific, measurable equality objectives is for the organisation and employees to better perform the general equality duty.  Equality objectives should help focus attention on the priority equality issues within the organisation, to deliver improvements in policy-making, service delivery and employment, including resource allocation.

The Equality Objectives about the nine protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation across the Cluster are:

1. Improved checking that protected characteristics are being recorded across all the services.  This knowledge and information will inform and support decision making about which health services to buy for our patients. 
This will be measured by human resources and staff recruitment information and information from engagement events.  
It will be reported at least once a year for example through the annual workforce report.  

2. We will ensure that health service providers fulfill their duties under the Equality Act 2010. 
This will be measured through health service contracts and reported in the annual equality report.
Annual equality reports from health service providers are to be sent to commissioners.

3. Any new health services or future health service changes to have an equality impact assessment published.  
This will be measured by ensuring that all changes to health services or new health services will have an equality assessment included in proposal. 
The equality impact assessments will be published on the website and included in the annual equality report. 

It is important to consider equality objectives that will address specific feedback from patient representatives at the recent equality engagement events.  We wish to acknowledge and resolve local issues and then to use that learning across the Cluster.  While the detail is still to be described the following local objectives are:

Torbay

a. To review numbers of patients registered with GP practices from black and minority ethnic communities and analyze results against known populations. Further action planning will then take place as needed.

b. Focus and give greater emphasis to the wide range of ways that patients and carers can give provide patient experience.  In particular to ensure greater engagement whilst considering difficulties that may include cultural differences and literacy levels. 

 Plymouth

a. Improved communications and networking with specific groups or communities

b. Better checking and collection of equality characteristic data

c. Better information to help make decisions

Devon is to review the information from the equality event to develop local equality objectives.

Further local objectives will be developed and published in due course. These will be used to inform future arrangements as well as continued support for the Cluster.

These Equality Objectives have been agreed by external organisations and local interests.  

The Equality Delivery system is supported with a variety of documents: 

• Equality Delivery System
• Equality Delivery System - Grades Manual
• Equality Delivery System - Equality Analysis
• Equality Delivery System - Statement of costs and benefits 
• Equality Delivery System - 9 easy steps

The following organisations are commissioned by NHS Devon to deliver healthcare.  Information about the Equality Delivery system can be obtained by using the search facility on each website:

• Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust
• North Devon Healthcare Trust
• South Devon Healthcare Trust
• Devon Partnership Trust
• Plymouth Hospitals
• South West Ambulance Service
• NHS South West also has information about NHS organisations across the South West.   

Enquiries for further information to: 

Sue Moreton
Patient Safety and Quality Manager
NHS Devon County Hall
Topsham Road
Exeter
EX2 4QL

Telephone: 01392 267 873