Our commitment to equality, diversity and human rights
As an employer for, and a provider of, health services in Kent, London and neighbouring counties, we take the issues of fairness, rights and equality very seriously.
We don’t just observe equality and diversity principles because we are required to. We recognise they greatly improve our ability to provide the services that we deliver.
We will continue to develop our staff and to strive to ensure accessible services for everyone in our communities.
While there are many legal requirements surrounding equalities, Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust independently recognises the importance of equality and diversity and the benefits that observing the principles bring.
Accessing healthcare can be an unsettling experience and we want you to feel fully respected and valued in your dealings with us.
We also recognise the value of our staff and their diversity and aim to ensure that our workforce is representative of the communities we serve. We understand that colleagues work better when they can be themselves and appreciate the quality, understanding and experience that they bring to our organisation.
Equality is written into our values framework, we ensure all of our staff receive training in the subject, we use equality analysis and equality and diversity is embedded into our policies. We use the Equality Delivery System to record and evidence the work we do and we publish our equality objectives on a regular basis.
We are consistently looking for opportunities to engage with our communities, to help us to plan and deliver services in a fair and equitable way.
Equality objectives
For workforce
The workforce objectives are owned within the Workforce Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (ED) Team. This will largely stay the same and reflect the work of the
Objective 1: To promote fair Recruitment, Promotion and Retention of staff.
Objective 2: To improve wellbeing of staff by eliminating discrimination and victimisation.
Objective 3: To improve the experience and career progression of staff with protected characteristics.
For patients and services
Given the significant change across NHS and the way in the trust is internally managing this agenda for patients and services, the objectives have been refreshed for the next four
The health inequalities objectives are owned with the Public Health and Prevention Directorate and lead within the health inequalities team.
Objective 4: Putting Communities First: Development of a health inequalities Strategy with operational delivery of action plans.
Objective 5: Putting Communities First: To undertake two place-based health inequalities projects that builds delivery to meet community need.
Objective 6: Better Patient Experience: To complete the interpreting and translation procurement process, and implement with contract monitoring against clear performance
![Nurse-Sabrina Nurse Sabrina](https://www.kentcht.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Nurse-Sabrina.jpg)