Browse site A to Z

Search results

Go To Advanced Search

WDES annual report 2022

Description: Workforce Disability Equality Standard - Annual Report 2022 2 Executive Summary The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of ten metrics that will help NHS organisations to compare the experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff. These metrics are necessary because evidence and research shows that the level of reported discrimination and inequality for disabled people working in the NHs remains high. The WDES was commissioned by the Equality and Diversity Council (EDC), and developed through extensive engagement with Trusts and key stakeholders. It is mandated through the NHS Standard Contract. Implementation of the WDES became an obligatory requirement for national healthcare organisations in 2019, so this is the fourth reporting year for the WDES metric. It is important to note that the data sources for the WDES metrics are a combination of the 2021 National Staff Survey, and workforce data reported at the national data collection cut-off date of 31 March 2022. An infographic offering a visual comparator of WDES 2021 to 2022 has been produced, alongside a guide to the metrics (appendix 1). All NHS organisations are required to produce an action plan to articulate the response to the WDES results, this can be found within the appendices (appendix 2). As UHS continues to develop our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2023-2026, we have incorporated the WDES actions contained in this report into the work programme that will deliver the strategy. The key findings from the 2022 submission show: 1. Out of a total of 13,389 staff (31 March 2022), disabled staff represent 12.16% of the workforce. Overall, this is a 1.24% decrease from 2021 data, this is not representative of wider society which 1 in 5 (22%). Further analysis shows there has been a minimal increase in representation of disabled staff within cluster 2 (AfC Bands 5-7) and 4 (AfC Band 8C-9 and VSM) of our non-clinical workforce and an increase in cluster 4 of our clinical workforce. 2. Data suggests that disabled shortlisted applicants are 0.90 times likely than non-disabled applicants to be appointed to a vacant post. This is an improvement in comparison to last year and suggests that people with disabilities are more likely to be appointed than those without disabilities or long term illness. A score of 1 indicates equal opportunity and anything under 1 indicates more likely, over 1 is less likely. 3. Data indicates disabled staff are less likely than non-disabled staff to be entered into a formal capability process. 4. Disabled staff are more likely than non-disabled staff to experience bullying, harassment and abuse from patients, service users, relatives, members of the public, managers and colleagues than non-disabled counterparts. 5. Disabled staff are less inclined to believe the Trust provides equal opportunities for career development as compared to those staff without disabilities. 6. Disabled staff feel more pressure than non-disabled staff to come to work when unwell. 7. Disabled staff are less satisfied than non-disabled staff that the Trust values their work. 8. There has been a decrease in Disabled staff saying that UHS have made adequate adjustments for them to carry out their work. 9. The staff engagement score for disabled and non-disabled staff is on par with each other and with that of overall staff engagement at UHS. 10. There continues to be no declared representation of disabled staff on the Trust Board. Other than one indicator (an improvement in the likelihood of disabled applicants being appointed from shortlisting in comparison to non-Disabled applicants), there has been minimal change. However, the disparity gap has widened in some areas as the experiences of non-disabled staff has improved. With this in mind, we are committed in continuing to have meaningful engagement with our disabled staff to co-create short and long-term actions with the support of the Long-term Illness and Disability Network to help move the Trust towards disability equality. The WDES data 2022 confirms that the priorities in our draft EDI Strategy are the right ones, to improve or eliminate disparity between experiences of people with long term illness, and disability and those without. We must maintain our focus on: 1. Inclusive recruitment practices and equal opportunities: Large scale review of current recruitment practices to eliminate bias from the systems and promote inclusivity. The Inclusive Recruitment Programme will ensure that recruiting managers are trained in inclusive recruitment techniques and criterion based methods will ensure bias is removed. We will align with the national programme for overhauling recruitment and promotion and contribute to this work wherever possible. The implementation and embedding of processes that ensure inclusive recruitment and equal opportunities for all. Our talent management programme will provide further opportunities for people with disabilities and long term illness to access development. 2. Workforce reflecting our wider communities: In line with the Inclusive Recruitment programme, we will be increasing efforts to make recruitment processes inclusive and therefore not post any barriers to the community in terms of applying for roles at UHS. We will be working with specialist partners to help us to self-assess our environments for people with disabilities or long term illness. Our recruitment outreach will also work more with local communities to attract people from the city from diverse backgrounds. We will provide career toolkits for all people who are unsuccessful at interviews to help them to succeed next time. We will be continuing to promote declarations to ensure we can measure our representation across our workforce and consider a target for % of people with disabilities and long term illness in our workforce which is in line with the reported demographic of our communities. 3. Safe and healthy working environments: Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy states a clear intent for UHS to become an anti-racist and anti-discriminatory organisation. We aim to decrease disparity of experience by 5% across all indicators in the WDES which will either reduce by half or eliminate disparity altogether. We will be working closer with colleague who lead on hate crime, violence and aggression to ensure robust mechanisms for reporting of incidence and the data is used to steer accountability and meaningful action. We will identify mechanisms and root causes of the disproportionality of staff with disabilities or long term illness experiencing discrimination, harassment, bullying and/or abuse and in turn whether there are trends within the trust that need targeted action. The link to the leadership and management work programme is a critical enabler of creating safe and healthy work environments. Improve the day-to-day experience of working at the Trust for disabled staff, ensuring their experience is free from discrimination, bullying, harassment and/or abuse and individuals feel they are valued. 4. Inclusive leadership and management: Ensure leaders and managers are clear on their accountabilities with regards supporting people with disability and long term illness and the responsibilities they hold to deliver the actions within the EDI strategy. To have development opportunities in supporting disabled staff and those who may identify with a protected characteristic. That all leaders and managers understand their own bias and can access learning in terms of how they behave, lead and make decisions. To support leaders and managers to understand their role as allies and role models, and how to challenge behaviours or actions that are not in line with Trust policy or values. To support leader and managers to develop greater awareness of the legal aspects of their roles in relation to equality, and how diversity and difference can enhance their team delivery and performance. Ensure leaders and managers have learning development opportunities to support individuals with Disabilities and know their responsibilities in relation to the inclusion agenda and specifically actions required to ensure people with disabilities feel valued in the wider workforce. 2 WDES Data Return 2022 Metric 1: Percentage of staff in AfC pay bands or medical and dental subgroups and very senior managers (including Executive Board members) compared with the percentage of staff in the overall workforce. Owing largely to a successful risk assessment campaign throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, disclosure rates in 2020 (15%) and 2021 )13.4%) accurately reflected the local population. However, recent data shows a steady yet continual decrease in declaration rates in terms of the overall representation of disabled staff within the UHS workforce. There is a slight exception of minimal increases in cluster 2 and cluster 4 of 1.3% and 0.09% respectively. Data in Fig 1 and Fig 2 below show the total non-clinical and clinical workforce declaring a disability vs total non-disabled staff in each pay cluster as of 31 March 2022. 2 Fig. 1 Non-Clinical workforce presentation 2021 2022 Pay clusters: Non-clinical Total staff in pay cluster Total disabled staff Total non- disabled staff Total unknown staff Total staff in pay cluster Total disabled staff Total non- disabled staff Total unknown staff Cluster 1 Bands 1-4 2008 14% (283) 69% (1391) 17% (334) 1916 13.25% (254) 71.13% (1363) 15.6% (299) Cluster 2 Bands 5-7 646 10% (66) 77% (495) 13% (85) 743 11.30% (84) 78.06% (580) 10.63% (79) Cluster 3 Bands 8a-8b 183 13% (23) 68% (126) 19% (34) 203 12.80% (26) 71.92% (146) 15.27% (31) Cluster 4 Bands 8c-9 & VSM 93 3% (3) 75% (70) 22% (20) 97 3.09% (3) 81.44% (79) 15.46% (15) Fig 2. Clinical workforce representation Pay clusters: Clinical 2021 2022 Total staff in pay cluster Total disabled staff Total non- disabled staff Total unknown staff Total staff in pay cluster Total disabled staff Total non- disabled staff Total unknown staff Cluster 1 Bands 1-4 2434 16% (384) 73% (1797) 11% (259) 2409 15.19% (366) 74.63% (1798) 10.17% (245) Cluster 2 Bands 5 – 7 5015 16% (799) 70% (3490) 14% (726) 5246 13.62% (715) 73.38% (3850) 12.98% (681) Cluster 3 Bands 8a –b 347 15% (52) 58% (201) 27% (94) 386 15.02% (58) 61.91% (239) 23.05% (89) Cluster 4 Bands 8C-9 & VSM 38 18% (7) 40% (15) 42% (16) 39 20.51% (8) 51.28% (20) 28.20% (11) Cluster 5 Medical & Dental staff, consultants 787 7% (58) 69% (538) 24% (191) 863 6.8% (59) 72.1% (622) 21.1% (182) Cluster 6 Medical & Dental staff, non-consultants career grades 421 6% (25) 82% (345) 12% (51) 428 4.9% (21) 83.2% (356) 11.9% (51) Cluster 7 Medical & Dental staff, medical & dental trainee grades 1027 4% (43) 93% (955) 3% (29) 1059 3.4% (36) 93.9% (994) 2.7% (29) In contrast to the 2021 data submission there is a decrease in representation of Disabled staff across clusters within the clinical workforce with the exception of cluster 4 which has seen an increase in representation from 18% to 20.51%. Metric 2: Relative likelihood of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff being appointed from shortlisting across all posts. This refers to both external and internal posts. The indicator below indicates that non-disabled staff are 0.90 times less likely to be appointed from shortlisting than disabled staff. This compares favourably to 2021, where the score was 1.02, a score below 1 indicates positive equal opportunity. Relative likelihood of staff being appointed from shortlisting across all posts 2022 Disabled Non-Disabled Number of shortlisted applicants 608 6897 Number appointed from shortlisting 234 2377 Relative likelihood of non-disabled staff being appointed from shortlisting compared to disabled staff 0.90 Metric 3: Relative likelihood of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff entering the formal capability process, as measured by entry into the formal capability procedure.. In line with WDES guidance, there is no requirement to analyse the relative likelihood where there are fewer than 10 cases reported involving disabled staff. Relative likelihood of staff entering the formal capability process, as measured by entry into a formal capability process 2022 Disabled Non-Disabled Number of staff entering the formal capability process 0 16 Relative likelihood of Disabled staff entering the formal capability process compared to non-disabled staff 0 Metric 4: (Part A) Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public, managers and other colleagues; (%s of total participants in staff survey related question, not % of total workforce) Harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/service users, their relatives, or other members of the public: 2021: Disabled – 30%; Non-Disabled – 25.2% 2022: Disabled – 26.7%; Non-Disabled – 21.4% There has been an improvement in numbers of disabled staff reporting they have experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public. This has decreased by 3.3 from 30% to 26.7%. However, the disparity between the experience of bullying, harassment and abuse between disabled to non-disabled has increased from 4.8% to 5.3% due to the favourable improvement for non-disabled staff. Harassment, bullying or abuse from managers: 2021: Disabled – 13.7%; Non-Disabled – 9.1% 2022: Disabled – 11.9%; Non-Disabled – 7% The data indicates a 1.8% decrease from 13.7% to 11.9% for those with disabilities experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse by managers. However, the disparity between disabled and non-disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse by a manager has increased to 4.9%. This is concerning and highlights the need for interventions to eradicate such experience. Harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues: 2021: Disabled – 26.7%; Non-Disabled – 16.2% 2022: Disabled – 21.6%; Non-Disabled – 13.6% There is a 5.1% decrease from 26.7% to 21.6% in disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues and a decrease of 2.6% from 16.2% to 13.6% in non-disabled staff. it remains a concern that 8% more disabled staff overall are experiencing such behaviours. It is not acceptable that any staff member experiences harassment, bullying and abuse from colleagues. The action for improvement within the draft EDI strategy in terms of achieving an anti-discriminatory organisation and workstreams to reduce bullying, harassment, abuse, hate crime, violence and aggression. Metric 4: (Part B) Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff saying that the last time they experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work, they or a colleague reported it. 2021: Disabled – 49.6%; Non-Disabled – 46.9% 2022: Disabled – 47%; Non-Disabled – 48.7% The 2022 data indicates a worsening of the likelihood of this indicator from 2021 of 2.6%. Whereas the indicator for non-disabled has improved by 2.6%. Continued engagement with individuals and members of the UHS long-term illness and disability network is crucial to gain greater understanding of why individuals aren’t or don’t feel able to report such incidence, and collectively take action to improve. It is also important to note that the participation in this question in the staff survey was lower than other questions, which therefore raises concerns in terms of perception of psychological safety in relation to reporting. . Metric 5: Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff believing that the Trust provides equal opportunities for career development. 2021: Disabled – 58%; Non-Disabled – 64.5% 2022: Disabled – 60%; Non-Disabled – 63% This indicator shows that disabled staff are now 2% more likely to think that the trust offers equal opportunities for career progression in comparison to the 2021 data collection. However, it should be noted that Disabled staff are 3% less inclined to believe the Trust provides equal opportunities for career development as compared to those staff without disabilities. Metric 6: Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff saying that they have felt pressure from their manager to come to work, despite not feeling well enough to perform their duties. 2021: Disabled – 33.1%; Non-Disabled – 23.6% 2022: Disabled – 26.9%; Non-Disabled – 19.9% 2021 data submission shows 26.9% of Disabled staff felt pressure to come to work despite feeling unwell, in comparison to 19.9% of non-Disabled staff. This shows a decrease for both comparators but does still evident a disparity of experience between Disabled and non-Disabled staff of 7%. Metric 7: Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff saying that they are satisfied with the extent to which their organisation values their work. 2021: Disabled – 42.7%; Non-Disabled – 54.9% 2022: Disabled – 39.6%; Non-Disabled – 49.6% Unfortunately, 2022 data submission shows a decrease in Disabled and non-Disabled perceptions on feeling valued by the organisation, with Disabled staff reporting 39.6% and non-Disabled staff reporting 49.6% satisfaction. Whilst disparity has decreased this is due to both disabled and non-disabled rating lower dissatisfaction levels, the level of disparity of experience remains high. Metric 8: Percentage of Disabled staff saying that their employer has made adequate adjustment(s) to enable them to carry out their work. 2021: 79.8% 2022: 78.9% There has been a 0.9% decrease in staff saying that UHS have made adequate adjustments for them to carry out their work. With this decrease in experience, over the next year and for the long-term the trust will make demonstrative efforts in addressing this and will be a priority within the action plan as we look to launch a review of the reasonable adjustments process and introduce a policy and guidelines in supporting all staff through the process. Metric 9: (Part A) The staff engagement % score for Disabled staff, compared to Non-Disabled staff and the overall engagement % score for the organisation. 2021: Disabled – 6.9%; Non-Disabled – 7.4%; UHS overall 7.3% 2022: Disabled – 6.9%; Non-Disabled – 7.3%; UHS overall 7.2% It is reassuring to note that the staff engagement score for disabled and non-disabled staff is on par with each other and with that of overall staff engagement at UHS. Metric 10: Board Voting by % disability 12.16% of the UHS population have declared a disability. There are no Trust Board members (voting or non-voting) who have declared a disability or long term illness. The Trust will continue to encourage staff of all levels the importance of declaration and representation, but with particular focus within senior roles. Conclusion and Next Steps Given that we now have a significant dataset available to us and we continue to encourage higher rates in completion of the annual staff survey, we are now in a position to have meaningful engagement with our disabled staff and the wider workforce to co-create short and long-term actions with continued support of the Long-term Illness and Disability Network to help move the Trust towards disability equality. Furthermore, at this point it is important to highlight this data and the areas for improvement that are needed have also been crucial in the current production of the UHS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and the outcomes we are committed in achieving over the forthcoming years. As previously summarised the data indicates that we must maintain our focus on: 1. Workforce reflecting our wider communities: Ensure that Disabled staff are able to access appropriate support in order to progress and remains inclusive of all roles at all levels. 2. Inclusive recruitment practices and equal opportunities: large scale review of current recruitment practices and where necessary The implementation and embedding of processes that ensure inclusive recruitment and equal opportunities for all. 3. Safe and healthy working environments: Improve the day-to-day experience of working at the Trust for disabled staff, ensuring their experience is free from discrimination, bullying, harassment and/or abuse and that individuals feel they are valued. 4. Inclusive leadership and management: Ensure leaders and managers have development opportunities in supporting individuals with Disabilities. Ensuring that when additional support such as reasonable adjustments are required the request/or need is met sufficiently. Our action plan which can be found in the appendices will continue to be reviewed in partnership with the Long-Term Illness and Disability network. The proposed actions will continue to be discussed in terms of progress at Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Council, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and People and Organisational development Committee. This analysis report along with the relevant action plan will be published on our public website by 31st October to meet the requirements set by the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES). Appendices Appendix 1: Infographic to visualise WDES data 2 Appendix 2: WDES Action Plan 2022 WDES Themes / Areas Proposed actions Responsible for Actions Deadline / review date 1: Workforce reflecting our communities, at all roles, at all levels; ensuring those who are underrepresented groups can access support to thrive, excel and belong within their roles. a) To develop and initiate positive Action Programmes both UHS and HIOW system wide; for those who have disabilities and/or long-term conditions as well as other protected characteristics. Acknowledging individuals experience of barriers to promotion, development and career progression. Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant / Head of EDI / Head of OD July 2023 b) UHS partnership with maaha people in developing and running a positive action leadership programme which will enrol 24 individuals who identify with a protected characteristic and will be designed to support individuals looking to move into, or those who are moving through senior leadership roles within the organisation, building on individuals personal identity, power and influence within the organisation. Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant January 2023 c) Partnership with the Florence Nightingale Foundation; Nurse leadership programme aimed at aspiring nurses from backgrounds that are under-represented in our nursing workforce and ensuring that opportunity for individuals who identify as disabled is equal and representative of wider society. Deputy Director of Nursing & Head of OD April 2023 d) Talent development programme for individuals with a disability and/or long-term condition. Supporting the career development, pathways, training and development of individual’s, ensuring talent workstreams and pipelines that encourage opportunity at earlier stages than current and may include long-term career planning. Develop a talent pipeline/talent management plan to include stretch activities, secondments, shadowing, specialist training, qualifications, coaching and mentoring where it is anticipated a career change will be necessary. This will look at strengthening as well as unearthing our current talent within UHS and ensuring that individuals continue to thrive, excel and belong and we support them to do this. Head of Talent Management / Head of EDI / Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant July 2023 e) Continue to build on newly found working relationship with Southampton job centre. Continue to liaise, attend and promote UHS as an employer of choice to disabled individuals within the wider community, the support that is offered and the career opportunities that available including that of our volunteering roles. Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant / HR Recruitment team April 2023 f) Propose and agree a declaration target throughout the organisation for those who identify as having a disability and/or long-term condition. Representation within wider society is currently 22% and therefore a declaration and representation rate of 20% will be proposed and what we know from engagement within the staff survey (2021) is representative at UHS. To achieve this workstreams will include more in depth narrative about declaration of disability and its importance within the onboarding and induction process within UHS and will include literature on the processes of how to declare. Continue with lived experiences pieces and continue to socialise within internal and external communications methods. Continue to at every opportunity irradicate stigma surrounding what happens if an individual declares a disability and continue to showcase the support we offer to individuals within the organisation as a disability confident employer. Director of OD & Inclusion / Chief People Officer April 2023 2: Safe and healthy working environments, free from aggression, hate and discrimination a) Creation of a behaviour framework to bring to live our Trust Values and more clearly describe the expected behaviours relating to equality, diversity and inclusion that impact individuals with a disability and/or long-term condition. Director of OD & Inclusion / Head of EDI / Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant August 2023 b) Fully establish divisional EDI Steering Groups to drive actions and improvements derived from Disability specific metrics throughout all teams, care groups and divisions. Director of OD & Inclusion / Head of EDI April 2023 c) Creation of EDI data and information dashboard to evidence improvements and scrutinise themes that impact individuals with a disability and determine actions required. Director of OD & Inclusion / Head of EDI April 2023 d) Developing a culture of Allyship: All staff to participate in Actionable Allyship training by 2024. The actionable allyship – stop.Start.continue programme will continue on the statutory and mandatory matrix for all staff to complete. This will provide individuals with the insight, knowledge and skill and to be active allies within a moment of challenging non inclusive behaviours and supporting out statement in being a anti-discriminatory organisation and in turn decrease the disparity of experience between those who have disabilities and those who don’t. Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant August 2023 e) Develop a process where conversation of long-term conditions and disabilities are standard processes within 1.2.1’s, wellbeing conversations and appraisal conversations. Highlighting all individuals responsibility to show allyship and continue to support individuals throughout their work at UHS. Head of EDI / Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant August 2023 3: Recruitment processes which free from bias and are inclusive a) Implement a work programme to review and improve the equity of recruitment processes and practices that impact individuals with a disability and/or long-term condition. Working group to include partnership with our Staff Network leads and representation from our diverse workforce. The working group will look at each stage and deliver on recommendations from engagement within the process. Aligning to the NHS People Plan England/Improvement High Impact Actions and Inclusive Recruitment Programme. Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant December 2022 b) Inclusive training, learning and development for all people involved in recruitment and attraction. Head of Talent attraction / HR Recruitment Team September 2023 c) Deliver a truly Disability friendly process with disability inclusive practices as standard. This will include processes from pre-employment to recruitment, through to employment and the onboarding process. Head of HR / Head of EDI / Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant September 2023 d) Develop an inclusive employer recruitment campaign in embedding our Disability confident status and our intentions to move towards disability confident leader within the next 3years. Head of HR / Head of EDI / Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant / LID Network September 2023 4: Inclusive leadership and management a) Inclusive Leadership content in all UHS leadership & management programmes to include personal learning, person action and accountability. This will move us to a place where equality, diversity and inclusion is the golden thread that runs through all our processes at UHS. Head of OD / Head of Leadership & Development / Head of EDI / Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant April 2023 b) Board and Senior leadership programmes to include the element for all leaders plus strategic and cultural responsibilities for equality, diversity and inclusion. Head of OD / Head of EDI July 2023 c) Inclusive leadership and management as part of the UHS Managers Induction Programme. Head of Leadership & Development / Head of EDI / Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant April 2023 d) Implementation of ongoing learning and development opportunities to enable leaders and managers to role model inclusive behaviours every day. For example: * Inclusive meetings * Agile working * Equality impact assessment * Adjustments required to enable people to thrive and be at their best at work. * Creating environments for people to succeed * Inclusive leadership behaviours aligned to our values Head of EDI / Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant September 2023 5: Networks and partnerships that thrive and support creation of an inclusive and safe place to work. a) Development programmes for Networks and Network Chairs clearly identifying roles to enable leadership of highly active networks, clarity of purpose and future plans. Development opportunities will include coaching, mentoring, influential leadership skills, recognising their contributions as career development. Head of EDI / Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant May 2023 b) Implement and establish the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Council; A place for network leads and members alongside the equality, diversity and inclusion team to dialogue with one another, bring forward ideas or concerns from the networks and a place for the voices of all individuals within the organisation to be recognised. This will also offer a place for future projects and funding to be discussed and where a decision on what escalations/risks need to be raised within committee meetings. Director of OD & Inclusion / Head of EDI / Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant November 2022 c) Establish and support new staff networks, as per requested: * Long COVID support group * Women’s Network * Carers Network * Veterans Network Head of EDI / Workforce Inclusion & Belonging Consultant April 2023 2
Url: /Media/UHS-website-2019/Docs/About-the-Trust/Equality-reports/Workforce-Disability-Equality-Standard-Annual-Report-2022.docx

Papers Trust Board - 10 September 2024

Description: Agenda Trust Board – Open Session Date 10/09/2024 Time 9:00 - 13:00 Location Conference Room, Heartbeat/Microsoft Teams Chair Jenni Douglas-Todd Apologies Diana Eccles (10:00-12:00) In attendance Jessica Bown, Midwifery Quality Assurance and Safety Matron (shadowing Gail Byrne) 1 Chair’s Welcome, Apologies and Declarations of Interest 9:00 Note apologies for absence, and to hear any declarations of interest relating to any item on the Agenda. 2 Patient Story The patient story provides an opportunity for the Board to reflect on the experiences of patients and staff within the Trust and understand what the Trust could do better. 3 Minutes of Previous Meeting held on 25 July 2024 9:15 Approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 25 July 2024 4 Matters Arising and Summary of Agreed Actions To discuss any matters arising from the minutes, and to agree on the status of any actions assigned at the previous meeting. 5 QUALITY, PERFORMANCE and FINANCE Quality includes: clinical effectiveness, patient safety, and patient experience 5.1 Briefing from the Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee (Oral) 9:20 Dave Bennett, Chair 5.2 Briefing from the Chair of the People and Organisational Development 9:25 Committee (Oral) Jane Harwood, Chair 5.3 Briefing from the Chair of the Quality Committee (Oral) 9:30 Tim Peachey, Chair 5.4 Chief Executive Officer's Report 9:35 Receive and note the report Sponsor: David French, Chief Executive Officer 5.5 Patient Safety and Quality of Care in Pressurised Services 9:55 Review and discuss the report Sponsor: Joe Teape, Chief Operating Officer Attendee: Duncan Linning-Karp, Deputy Chief Operating Officer 5.6 Performance KPI Report for Month 4 10:05 Review and discuss the report Sponsor: David French, Chief Executive Officer 5.7 Finance Report for Month 4 10:30 Review and discuss the report Sponsor: Ian Howard, Chief Financial Officer 5.8 Break 10:40 5.9 People Report for Month 4 10:55 Review and discuss the report Sponsor: Steve Harris, Chief People Officer 5.10 Guardian of Safe Working Hours Quarterly Report 11:10 Receive and discuss the report Sponsor: Paul Grundy, Chief Medical Officer Attendee: Diana Hulbert, Emergency Medicine Consultant and Guardian of Safe Working Hours 5.11 Learning from Deaths 2024-25 Quarter 1 Report 11:25 Review and discuss the report Sponsor: Paul Grundy, Chief Medical Officer Attendee: Jenny Milner, Associate Director of Patient Experience 5.12 Medical Appraisal and Revalidation Annual Report including Board 11:40 Statement of Compliance Receive and note the Annual Report. Approve the Statement of Compliance. Sponsor: Paul Grundy, Chief Medical Officer 5.13 Safeguarding Annual Report 2023-24 11:55 Receive and discuss Sponsor: Gail Byrne, Chief Nursing Officer Attendees: Corinne Miller, Named Nurse for Safeguarding Adults/ Danielle Honey, Named Nurse for Safeguarding Children 6 STRATEGY and BUSINESS PLANNING 6.1 Board Assurance Framework (BAF) Update 12:10 Review and discuss the update Sponsor: Gail Byrne, Chief Nursing Officer Attendees: Craig Machell, Associate Director of Corporate Affairs and Company Secretary/Lauren Anderson, Corporate Governance and Risk Manager Page 2 7 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, RISK and INTERNAL CONTROL 7.1 Register of Seals and Chair's Actions Report 12:20 Receive and ratify In compliance with the Trust Standing Orders, Financial Instructions, and the Scheme of Reservation and Delegation. Sponsor: Jenni Douglas-Todd, Trust Chair 7.2 Health and Safety Annual Report 2023-24 12:25 Receive and discuss Sponsor: Gail Byrne, Chief Nursing Officer Attendee: Jane Fisher, Head of Health and Safety Services 7.3 People and Organisational Development Committee Terms of Reference 12:35 Review and approve Sponsor: Steve Harris, Chief People Officer 8 Any other business 12:40 Raise any relevant or urgent matters that are not on the agenda 9 Note the date of the next meeting: 5 November 2024 10 Items circulated to the Board for reading 10.1 CRN: Wessex 2024-25 Q1 Performance Report Note the report Sponsor: Paul Grundy, Chief Medical Officer 11 Resolution regarding the Press, Public and Others Sponsor: Jenni Douglas-Todd, Trust Chair To agree, as permitted by the National Health Service Act 2006 (as amended), the Trust's Constitution and the Standing Orders of the Board of Directors, that representatives of the press, members of the public and others not invited to attend to the next part of the meeting be excluded due to the confidential nature of the business to be transacted. 12 Follow-up discussion with governors 12:45 Page 3 Minutes Trust Board – Open Session Date Time 25/07/2024 9:00 – 13:00 Location Anaesthetic Seminar Room (CE95/99)/Microsoft Teams Chair Jenni Douglas-Todd (JD-T) Present Dave Bennett, NED (DB) Jenni Douglas-Todd, Chair (JD-T) Diana Eccles, NED (DE) Keith Evans, Deputy Chair and NED (KE) David French, Chief Executive Officer (DAF) Paul Grundy, Chief Medical Officer (PG) Steve Harris, Chief People Officer (SH) Jane Harwood, NED/Senior Independent Director (JH) Ian Howard, Chief Financial Officer (IH) Tim Peachey, NED (TP) (until 12:00) Joe Teape, Chief Operating Officer (JT) Alison Tattersall, NED (AT) Natasha Watts, Interim Deputy Chief Nursing Officer (NW) (for G Byrne) In attendance Martin De Sousa, Director of Strategy and Partnerships (MDeS) Craig Machell, Associate Director of Corporate Affairs and Company Secretary (CM) Lauren Anderson, Corporate Governance and Risk Manager (LA) (item 6.3) Kelly Kent, Head of Strategy and Partnerships (KK) (item 6.1) Marie Nelson, R&D Head of Nursing and Health Professions (MN) (item 6.2) Karen Underwood, Director of R&D (KU) (item 6.2) Kerrie Montoute, Head of Programmes, CDO Directorate at NHSE (shadowing JDT) 1 member of the public (item 2) 3 governors (observing) 3 members of staff (observing) 2 members of the public (observing) Apologies Gail Byrne, Chief Nursing Officer (GB) 1. Chair’s Welcome, Apologies and Declarations of Interest The Chair welcomed attendees to the meeting. There were no interests to declare in the business to be transacted at the meeting. It was noted that apologies had been received from Gail Byrne. The Board welcomed Alison Tattersall, who joined the Board as a non-executive director on 1 June 2024. The Chair provided an overview of her activities since June 2024, including visits to hospital departments, meetings with peers and other key stakeholders. 2. Patient Story Georgia Blackman and her parents were invited to relate their story following Georgia’s admission with serious head and abdominal injuries after a car accident in November 2023. She had not been expected to survive, but had instead made Page 1 a very good recovery and was undergoing rehabilitation and had regained some sight. The family related their experience of being told that their daughter was going to die and the importance of how this message is delivered was highlighted. It was further noted that where a patient is between 16 and 18 years old it was necessary to consider whether they are managed as a child or as an adult in terms of their care. 3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting held on 6 June 2024 The draft minutes tabled to the meeting were agreed to be an accurate record of the meeting held on 6 June 2024. 4. Matters Arising and Summary of Agreed Actions It was noted that there were no matters arising or overdue actions. 5. QUALITY, PERFORMANCE and FINANCE 5.1 Briefing from the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee The chair of the Audit and Risk Committee was invited to provide an overview of the meeting held on 27 June 2024 and the subsequent meeting of a committee authorised to approve the final annual report and accounts for 2023/24 held on 16 July 2024. It was noted that the annual report and accounts had been submitted to NHS England on 19 July 2024 and that the Trust’s external auditor had provided a ‘clean’ audit opinion. 5.2 Briefing from the Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee The chair of the Finance and Investment Committee was invited to provide an overview of the meeting held on 22 July 2024. It was noted that: • The committee had reviewed the Finance Report for Month 3 (item 5.8). • The committee had examined the Trust’s progress on its transformation programme, and noted in particular the success in reducing length of stay by 5% for P0 patients as part of the discharge programme. • The committee received a report on the Trust’s productivity and noted that the national methodology used created a confusing position and did not incorporate the impacts of certain factors which should be included. • The committee reviewed the Trust’s activities in the digital space and noted that capital in this area was primarily used for maintenance rather than development and that there was a significant infrastructure risk due to the Trust’s current data centre set up. It was further noted that better understanding of the benefits of digital development and timescales was required. • The Trust had agreed to participate in establishing a separate legal entity to seek investment to exploit intellectual property rights jointly developed by the Trust and the University of Southampton. 5.3 Briefing from the Chair of the People and Organisational Development Committee The chair of the People and Organisational Development Committee was invited to provide an overview of the meeting held on 22 July 2024. It was noted that: • The committee reviewed the revised People Report for Month 3 (item 5.9), noting that the workforce plan was at risk if there was no reduction in patients having no criteria to reside and mental health demand. • The committee had reviewed the Trust’s Employee Relations activities and received an update on an investigation into comments made on social media. Page 2 5.4 5.4.1 5.5 • In its review of the Board Assurance Framework (item 6.3), it was agreed that culture also needed to be reflected in the people-related risks. Briefing from the Chair of the Quality Committee The chair of the Quality Committee was invited to provide an overview of the meeting held on 15 July 2024. It was noted that: • In its report from the Quality Governance Steering Group, the committee noted that there were two new never events under investigation. In addition, there were national shortages of certain medicines. The committee also noted an increase in violence and aggression linked to the increasing number of patients with mental health issues. • The committee reviewed the Fundamentals of Care programme and noted that it was very comprehensive. • The committee also received updates following a visit by Southern Health and the impact of demand by patients with mental health issues on the Trust. • The committee also noted a report by the Royal College of Radiologists on the Trust’s radiotherapy department, which provided positive feedback, and noted the expansion in use and scope of the service. • In its review of the Board Assurance Framework (item 6.3), the committee noted that the risk of staff availability could be due to both unaffordability as well as national lack of availability of qualified individuals. Action Craig Machell agreed to add an item covering the impact of technology over the next 5-10 years to a future Trust Board Study Session agenda. Maternity and Neonatal Safety 2024-25 Quarter 1 Report The chair of the Quality Committee was invited to provide an overview of the Maternity and Neonatal Safety 2024/25 report for the first quarter, the content of which was noted. It was further noted that: • Under the terms of the NHS Resolution Maternity Incentive Scheme, the Board had delegated review of the report to the Quality Committee. • There had been sustained improvement in meeting the required timescales for booking of appointments and screening since April 2024. • The continuity of carer need should be focused where it could make the most difference. • Appointment of a community partner by the Integrated Care Board was expected soon. • The Trust was approximately 40 members of staff short. However, plans were in place to address this deficit, including use of newly qualified nurses on rotations and the 36 new entrants expected between November 2024 and March 2025. Chief Executive Officer’s Report David French was invited to present the Chief Executive Officer’s Report, the content of which was noted. It was further noted that: • David French had met with the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 19 July 2024 where the Secretary of State had outlined his priorities in terms of urgent and emergency care and addressing the backlog in elective care through using private sector capacity. In addition, it was noted that the intention for the longer term was to focus on preventative health and digital. • Following the General Election, there were also a number of new Members of Parliament for the area served by the Trust. Page 3 • On 1 July 2024, the new pathology laboratory information management system had been rolled out across the region. There had been some initial issues with providing information to primary care providers. • David French had been asked and had agreed to remain as the provider representative on the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board until September 2024. • A new referral system for Ophthalmology had been launched, which would use A/I in supporting the booking process. 5.6 Performance KPI Report for Month 3 Joe Teape was invited to present the Performance KPI Report for Month 3, the content of which was noted. It was further noted that: • The Trust’s performance was in the top quartile for six out of nine measures and the top half for two others. • There had been a fairly stable period with better occupancy levels and improvements in timings of discharges. • There were ~220 patients no longer meeting criteria to reside during June 2024, and the Trust was considering a new plan with local partners for a local system delivery plan. • The Trust’s cancer performance continued to be impacted by the challenge posed by increasing demand. • The Trust’s performance against the 31-day standard had fallen to the third decile, with capacity issues in radiology and prostate services. • Further understanding of who was being referred under cancer pathways was required, as this could identify health inequality concerns in terms of who was accessing the Trust’s services. • Increases in referrals could be due to national campaigns which raise public awareness of certain forms of cancer and the possible symptoms. 5.7 Break 5.8 Finance Report for Month 3 Ian Howard was invited to present the Finance Report for Month 3, the content of which was noted. It was further noted that: • Nationally, the NHS’s deficit was above £1bn, representing 4-5%. The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board had recorded a £57m deficit (6%) for month 3. The average deficit for university teaching hospitals was 4.1%. • The Trust had recorded a £13m deficit (year-to-date) and an in-month deficit of £4.5m. • There had been some early signs of improvement with the underlying position having improved since month 1. • The Trust’s elective recovery performance was 128% and there had been improvements in length of stay. • The Trust’s workforce numbers and pay costs were below plan, and agency numbers had halved since summer 2023. • The underlying monthly deficit was c.£5m, with approximately £1m of this attributable to unfunded pay awards and costs of industrial action. • Meeting the Trust’s plan for Quarter 2 of 2024/25 was expected to be challenging, as it assumed that the Integrated Care System’s transformation programmes would begin to deliver. • The Trust’s cash reserves were now below £30m, and the Trust might need to consider the need for additional cash from NHS England. • The Trust would continue to focus on its transformation programmes. Page 4 • The level of the anticipated pay award for 2024/25 and a likely shortfall in funding for the award was a risk to the Trust’s financial position. 5.9 People Report for Month 3 Steve Harris was invited to present the People Report for Month 3, the content of which was noted. It was further noted that: • A number of improvements were in the process of being made to the report to incorporate a ‘heat map’ and provide additional focus on culture. • The Trust was under its overall workforce plan by 313 whole-time equivalents (WTE) at the end of June 2024. However, in terms of its overall plan, ~200 WTE were reliant on improvements in the non-criteria to reside and mental health position. • Violence and aggression remained a key concern, with increasing use by the Trust of its warning and exclusion policy. • Work was ongoing to review the number of statutory and mandatory training courses with a view toward rationalising the number. • The ‘We Are UHS’ Champions award ceremony was to be held in October 2024. • The Integrated Care Board recruitment control panel appeared to be limiting the number of requests for recruitment likely due to improved filtering taking place by the individual trusts. 5.10 Annual Complaints Report 2023-24 Natasha Watts was invited to present the Annual Complaints Report for 2023/24, the content of which was noted. It was further noted that: • The number of complaints received had decreased slightly compared to the previous year, and the number of complaints upheld or partially upheld had decreased compared to the previous year and remained lower than the national average. • There had been four cases reviewed by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, of which two were closed and two were partially upheld. • The overall quality of responses to complaints had improved. 6. STRATEGY and BUSINESS PLANNING 6.1 Corporate Objectives 2024-25 Quarter 1 Review Martin De Sousa was invited to present the Corporate Objectives 2024/25 Quarter 1 Review, the content of which was noted. It was further noted that: • The Trust’s performance was largely positive with 11 (out of 16) objectives on track to be delivered in full. • The major risks for achievement of the objectives were the Trust’s financial position and the possible impact of this on the workforce, and the Trust’s ability to reduce the number of patients not having criteria to reside. • Inclusion of a predicted future rating for each objective in reports was to be considered. Page 5 6.2 Research and Development Plan 2024-25 Karen Underwood was invited to present the Research and Development Plan for 2024/25, the content of which was noted. It was further noted that: • During 2023/24, the Trust had recruited its 250,000th participant and had launched its Research for Impact strategy. • Income for 2024/25 was predicted to be lower than previously due to the impact of Covid-19-related studies on prior years. • Vacancies and the reliance on clinical support services would be a challenge for 2024/25. Decision Having discussed the proposal, the Board approved the Research and Development Plan for 2024/25. Action Ian Howard agreed to obtain clarification regarding the discrepancy between the Return on Investment table and Appendix 4 in the plan. 6.3 Board Assurance Framework (BAF) Update Lauren Anderson was invited to present the Board Assurance Framework, the content of which was noted. It was further noted that: • All risks had been reviewed by the Executive leads since June 2024. • The recorded gaps and controls were being checked and the BAF would differentiate between actions and aspirations in terms of the Trust’s steps to mitigate or address areas of risk. • It was intended to more closely link the BAF risks to the Board’s agenda. • The maturity assessment undertaken during 2023/24 as part of the audit of risk management carried out by KPMG would be reviewed to determine where the Trust would be against its aspirations by the end of the year. 7. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, RISK and INTERNAL CONTROL 7.1 Feedback from the Council of Governors’ (CoG) Meeting 24 July 2024 The Chair provided an overview of the meeting of the Council of Governors held on 24 July 2024. It was noted that the meeting had addressed the following matters: • The appointment of Shirley Anderson as the new Lead Governor. • Reports from the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. • The Trust’s annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024. 7.2 Register of Seals and Chair’s Actions Report The paper ‘Register of Seals and Chair’s Actions Report’ was presented to the meeting, the content of which was noted. Decision: The Board agreed to ratify the application of the Trust Seal to the documents listed in the ‘Register of Seals and Chair’s Actions Report’. 8. Any other business There was no other business. Page 6 9. Note the date of the next meeting: 10 September 2024 10. Resolution regarding the Press, Public and Others Decision: The Board resolved that, as permitted by the National Health Service Act 2006 (as amended), the Trust’s Constitution and the Standing Orders of the board of directors, that representatives of the press, members of the public and others not invited to attend to the next part of the meeting be excluded due to the confidential nature of the business to be transacted. The meeting was adjourned. Page 7 List of action items Agenda item Assigned to Deadline Status Trust Board – Open Session 28/03/2024 4.14 Guardian of Safe Working Hours Quarterly Report 1127. Junior Doctors Grundy, Paul 24/10/2024 Pending Explanation action item Paul Grundy and Diana Hulbert agreed to include an item regarding junior doctors on a future Trust Board Study Session agenda. Due to industrial action on 27 June, this item has been deferred to the next TBSS on 24/10/2024. Trust Board – Open Session 06/06/2024 5.6 Performance KPI Report for Month 1 1152. Digital Teape, Joe Explanation action item JT agreed to include Digital as an agenda item at a future Trust Board Study Session. 24/10/2024 Pending This item is tentatively scheduled for TBSS on 24/10/2024. Trust Board – Open Session 25/07/2024 5.4 Briefing from the Chair of the Quality Committee (Oral) 1163. Impact of technology Machell, Craig 27/02/2025 Pending Explanation action item Craig Machell agreed to add an item covering the impact of technology over the next 5-10 years to a future Trust Board Study Session agenda. Update: Item tentatively scheduled for 27/02/25 Study Session. Page 1 of 2 Agenda item Assigned to Deadline Status Trust Board – Open Session 25/07/2024 6.2 Research and Development Plan 2024-25 1165. Discrepancy Howard, Ian 10/09/2024 Pending Explanation action item Ian Howard agreed to obtain clarification regarding the discrepancy between the Return on Investment table and Appendix 4 in the plan. Page 2 of 2 Report to the Trust Board of Directors Title: Agenda item: Sponsor: Date: Purpose: Issue to be addressed: Response to the issue: Chief Executive Officer’s Report 5.4 David French, Chief Executive Officer 10 September 2024 Assurance Approval or reassurance Ratification Information X My report this month covers updates on the following items: • NHS Pay Offers • National Unison Campaign – Collective Pay Grievance for Healthcare Support Workers • Civil Unrest • Hampshire Together • Maternity Services and Sustainable Staffing • CQC Annual Hospital Inpatients Survey • Annual Regulation and Oversight Survey • Cass Review Implementation • Aseptic Preparation Audit • Human Tissue Authority inspection The response to each of these issues is covered in the report. Implications: Any implications of these issues are covered in the report. (Clinical, Organisational, Governance, Legal?) Summary: Conclusion The Board is asked to note the report. and/or recommendation Page 1 of 9 NHS Pay Offers On 29 July 2024, the Government announced that it would accept in full pay review body advice on NHS staff salaries and would make a pay offer to junior doctors in an attempt to end the ongoing industrial action. The Government accepted the 2024/25 recommendations of the NHS Pay Review Body for a 5.5% increase, backdated to 1 April 2024, for all Agenda for Change staff. This increase is expected to be reflected in October pay. In addition, intermediate pay bands will be created for Band 8 and 9 staff. In line with national guidance UHS will also offer back pay payments to be spread out over six months if individuals request this to help mitigate any impact on universal credit. The offer made to the junior doctors represents a 22.3% uplift over two years. This comprises an additional average of 4.05% for 2023/24 on top of the existing 8.8% implemented last year, taking the average uplift to 13.2%. In addition, 2024/25 pay would increase by an average of 12.4% against current 2023/24 payscales. The British Medical Association junior doctors committee recommends acceptance of this offer. Voting opened on 19 August and closes on 15 September 2024. The Government has also announced its intention to repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, which provides a mechanism to require workers in particular sectors, such as health, education, fire and rescue, and transport, to guarantee certain minimum levels of service during periods of industrial action. This will form part of a range of employment law modifications the government is considering, and the Board will be updated with further details once these are finalised. National Unison Campaign – Collective Pay Grievance for Healthcare Support Workers During August, UHS formally received a collective grievance relating to pay for Healthcare Support Workers (HCSWs). This is a national campaign led by UNISON pushing for recognition of duties carried out by these staff, formal re-grading of pay band, and appropriate back pay. UHS has over 1,200 individuals in these roles. The Chief People Officer is formally meeting with UNISON to discuss how the matter can be resolved. Whilst this is a national campaign, we have been told not to expect national resolution and Trusts have been directed to resolve locally as appropriate. Civil Unrest The nation experienced significant violent and racially motivated civil unrest during August. Farright anti-immigration rallies were planned in a number of cities across the UK, including Southampton. Healthcare workers had been directly targeted in some parts of the country by farright groups. This understandably generated fear and concern from our black, minority ethnic communities which was raised through various routes to leaders at the Trust. Communication was sent by the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Nursing Officer to all staff setting out our stance on the situation and proposed practical measures, coupled with local support from managers to those who were concerned. Led by the Chief Nurse through the Trust's incident management process, we rapidly implemented practical measures in addition to wider wellbeing and psychological support. Measures included additional security, additional transport and other local actions to help with people's safe journey to work on the day of planned demonstrations. Friday prayers were also attended by the Chief Medical Officer and the Director of OD and Inclusion to provide support to our Muslim communities. The unsavoury events have also triggered a collective drive to push again to focus on the violence and aggression issues at UHS. Staff still experience unacceptable violence, aggression and hate crimes by patients and service users at UHS and across the whole NHS. A multistakeholder workshop, including police partners, is planned for 2 October 2024 to re-energise Page 2 of 9 delivery of our existing commitments. We also want to use the expertise and advice of a range of people to explore and plan where we can go further and be bolder with this important agenda. At the national level, NHS England wrote to all integrated care boards, NHS trusts and foundation trusts, GP and dental practices, pharmacy contractors, and general ophthalmic service contractors on 12 August 2024 emphasising the NHS position that ‘discrimination is unacceptable, and the NHS should have a zero tolerance of racism towards our patients and colleagues’. NHS England also sets out some guidance in the following areas for organisations to listen to and support affected staff: • Ensuring staff can access the support they need • Involving staff networks in the organisational response • Dealing with instances of racism and discrimination • Demonstrating ongoing commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion The response can be read at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/nhs-response-to-2024-riots/ Hampshire Together HM Government has announced that it is pausing approval of the business cases for the ’40 new hospitals’, of which Hampshire Hospitals is one. Public consultation had recently been completed and submission of the final business case was anticipated before the end of this year but the timing of submission and approval of the business case is now uncertain pending the national review. Separately, the ‘Save Winchester Action Group’ has written to board members of HIOW ICB with concerns regarding the proposed changes at Winchester Hospital, specifically around the loss of acute services from the Winchester site. The overall programme was discussed at the ICS board meeting on 4 September 2024. The executive has a planned session with Hampshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust executives at the end of September to discuss ideas around future models for services across all sites. Maternity Services Safe and Sustainable Staffing In August 2024, the Trust produced a briefing paper for the Care Quality Commission which provided a summary of the Trust’s action plan in respect of staffing of its Maternity services. The paper is attached as Appendix A. CQC Annual Hospital Inpatients Survey On 21 August 2024, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published its adult inpatient survey for 2023. The survey examines the experiences of people over 16 who stayed at least one night in hospital during November 2023. The results showed a deterioration in people’s experiences of inpatient care since 2020, although the results for 2023 remained broadly consistent with those in 2022 and 2021. Most respondents reported a positive experience in their interactions with doctors and nurses, such as being treated with respect, dignity, kindness and compassion and being included in conversations. However, discharge from hospital remains a challenging part of people’s experience of care, with 29% saying that they had little to no involvement in decisions about their discharge, and only 48% saying that they were given enough notice about when they were going to leave. In addition, 23% of elective patients said they would have liked to have been admitted ‘a bit sooner’ and 19% ‘a lot sooner’, and 43% of elective patients believed that their health had deteriorated while waiting to be admitted. Page 3 of 9 The survey results can be viewed at: https://www.cqc.org.uk/publications/surveys/adult-inpatientsurvey Annual Regulation and Oversight Survey NHS Providers published the results of its annual regulation and oversight survey on 8 August 2024. According to the survey, trust leaders had reported an increased regulatory burden during the year, particularly noting a lack of coordination between regulators and questioning whether reporting requirements are proportionate or realistic. There were also questions as to whether regulators appropriately recognised the level of risks trusts had been absorbing in balancing the demands of financial and operational performance. Seventy-two per cent of trust leaders believed that the burden of integrated care board (ICB) regulation had increased, compared to 48% from NHS England and 36% from CQC. Less than a third of trusts were comfortable with the role of ICBs as performance managers and 62% saw their activity as duplicating that of NHS England. Respondents also questioned CQC’s credibility, feeling its judgements were not objective enough and inspection teams lacked sector-specific expertise. In addition, the majority of trust leaders would like to see a move away from the CQC’s one-word ratings, seeing it as too simplistic, often demoralising for staff, and confusing for patients. The survey report can be viewed at: https://nhsproviders.org/a-pivotal-moment-for-regulationregulation-and-oversight-survey-2024 Cass Review Implementation On 7 August 2024, NHS England published its plan to implement the advice from the Cass Review – the review of gender identity services for children and young people. This plan includes establishment of regional centres and changes to the referrals process to help trusts to deliver holistic, therapeutic and evidence-based care. The implementation plan can be read at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/children-andyoung-peoples-gender-services-implementing-the-cass-review-recommendations/ The Trust continues discussions with NHS England regarding whether Southampton could or should be one of these new regional centres. Aseptic Preparation Audit On 1 August 2024, the Trust was informed of the outcome of the external audit of unlicensed preparation of medicines for the pharmacy aseptic unit at Southampton General Hospital conducted on 4 June 2024. The unit’s operation was assessed as posing a low risk with respect to the quality of the medicines produced within it. The report also stated that the unit ‘is well managed and has good pharmaceutical quality systems in place’. Human Tissue Authority (HTA) inspection The HTA conducted an inspection of our mortuary arrangements in August. The formal feedback report has not been received but informal feedback has been shared by the inspection team. We expect the report to have no significant findings but we do anticipate a number of minor procedural and documentation recommendations. The inspection team advised us that the failings at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells mortuary which enabled criminal activity to go unnoticed have triggered a recent ‘raising of the bar’, particularly regarding security / access arrangements. We will share the final inspection report when it is received, along with our response and action plan. Page 4 of 9 Appendix A UHS Briefing Paper to CQC Title: Maternity Services Safe and Sustainable Staffing Sponsor: Gail Byrne, Chief Nursing Officer Author(s): Emma Northover, Director of Midwifery Carly Springate, Head of Midwifery Marie Cann, Maternity and Neonatal Safety Lead Date: August 2024 Purpose: The purpose of this report is to note the current challenges in maternity staffing and provide assurance on the mitigations to maintain appropriate and safe staffing levels, which, in turn, ensures the delivery and support of high-quality care. Issue(s) to be addressed: Over recent weeks and months our Maternity Service has faced significant operational challenges, leading to more frequent than usual service diversions. This has led to impacts not only on the experience of our families and staff but across the wider Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS). As from the beginning of July 2024, UHS Maternity Services have escalated to OPEL 4 on 23 occasions from the start of this year. Across the whole of 2023 OPEL 4 was declared 28 times. This shows a significant increase in service pressure that our Maternity Service is experiencing with staffing and acuity accounting for the majority of incidents. Whilst we are compliant with providing 1:1 care in active labour and we are safe, we are seeing an increase in other reportable red flags such as delays in induction and being unable to facilitate birthplace choices. In terms of our current position, staffing levels across the Maternity Service have remained challenging with vacancy rates across the registered workforce currently sit around 14%, equating to around 30 Whole Time Equivalents (WTE). Addressing these staffing challenges will require a coordinated effort and it is hoped that by collaborating with our partners we can develop a more comprehensive and effective approach to improving workforce provision. The enclosed plan of action sets out to address the staffing issues as much as possible until the newly qualified midwives start and vacancy is significantly reduced The DoM and the Senior Midwifery Leadership Team are committed to ensuring safe and sustainable staffing levels across UHS Maternity Services. We remain open and honest around our changing clinical environment as well as being sensitive and responsive to any rapidly changing picture. Escalation processes and frameworks are robust and well established. Further to this we have excellent engagement from our 1|Page Page 5 of 9 Maternity Safety Champions with whom we meet with regularly. This includes full support from Gail Byrne, Chief Nursing Officer and Executive Maternity Safety Champion, and Tim Peachey, Non-Executive Director and Maternity Safety Champion, who together ensure that the DoM has a platform and a voice at Trust Board. Despite the immediate challenges in respect of the Maternity Services workforce at UHS, we are looking to offer assurances to the CQC in terms of the actions both short and longer term that are being taken and the mitigations in place to reduce harm and maintain safety to our service users. Risks (top 3) of carrying out the change or not: Summary/ conclusion • 285 - Red 20 Maternity Staffing during peaks of activity • 259 - Red 16 Capacity and Demand in Maternity Services • 617 - Orange 12 Lack of postnatal care provision (staffing) • 815 - Red 15 Poor compliance with NICE guidance for Antenatal Bookings The CQC are asked to review this report and the mitigations in place and seek further assurance if required. Page 6 of 9 2|Page Maternity Staffing Action Plan Issue/Action Progress Lead Date 1. Following a successful newly • Our current preceptorship programme (18 months in hos- Practice Aug 2024 qualified midwife recruitment pital) has been recently reviewed in terms of content and Education lead drive, 34 WTE band 5 midwives structure to ensure that these staff are retained. to join UHS Maternity Services in November 2024. 2. Utilisation of contingency • Provides contingency measures in releasing and redeploy- Head of Aug 2024 framework ing additional staff. Midwifery RAG G 3. Utilise birthrate plus as a • The last assessment of UHS Maternity Services by BR+ in Director of framework for workforce planning 2018 suggested an overall clinical establishment based on Midwifery and strategic decision making a midwife V birth ratio of 1:24, calculated against an annual birth rate of 5500 births. This is soon to be recalculated Sept 2024 A 4. Increased staff support in the • We have retained 100% of our newly qualified preceptees Head of Aug 2024 G clinical environment in addition to who started with us in November 2023. Midwifery pastoral and psychological Practice support to enhance retention of Education Lead the workforce. 5. The senior leadership team, • To review how we maintain this going forward to ensure Director of Aug 2024 G including the Director of sustainability Midwifery / Chief Midwifery (DoM), commit to a Nursing Officer high number of out-of-hours on- calls to support the service when in escalation and when staffing does not match the acuity and activity across the acute clinical areas. 3|Page Page 7 of 9 6. Two fixed term matron roles have • This provides additional cushioning to the matron team and Director of been appointed to oversee a development opportunity for our existing workforce. Midwifery antenatal and postnatal pathways. 7. Development of a systematic • This live data is reflective of total staff unavailability in- Maternity process for workforce planning in clude vacancy rates, sickness ratios, maternity leave, and Business the form of a monthly dashboard. study time, all of which is compared alongside the budg- Support eted versus actual staffing establishment overall. Manager 8. The labour ward coordinator will • This enables the labour ward coordinator to have continu- Head of not take responsibility for any ous oversight of their clinical environment and oversee Midwifery patients, or cover breaks for other safety. members of staff. 9. An extensive listening exercise • To align with current service needs, and with staff wellbe- Director of has been undertaken place to ing as a central focus, the DoM and Senior Midwifery Midwifery help inform the future direction Leadership Team are reviewing the way the service is de- and structure of the Maternity livered with the potential of a workforce restructure. Service workforce. 10. 12 – 16 Registered nurses are to • Divisions seeking staff who are interested in supporting Director of be seconded to maternity in this and with the right skillset. Midwifery interim period to help release midwife time with roles such high • A review will be undertaken to see if this could be a dependency, vaccination, longer-term proposition to support the maternity workforce fundamentals of care 11. Dedicated programmes for career • Our prime focus is to consider new ways in which we can Director of development starting at band 2 future proof our Maternity Services going forward, whilst Midwifery and progressing to band 9. investing in our people. 12. A NHSP Incentive Scheme has been agreed to run over the summer months • This action has enabled staff to feel valued and appreciated Director of for all their gestures of good will and their contributions to Midwifery Page 8 of 9 Aug 2024 G Aug 2024 G Aug 2024 G Aug 2024 A Aug 2024 A Aug 2024 A Aug 2024 A 4|Page the workforce that are worked outside of contractual commitments. 13. A review to look at tipping points • Contact to be made with the ED to review learning and any Head of (as happens in Emergency processes and systems. Midwifery Department) to be scoped introduced 14. A roster review will be • Full review of the roster template to ensure fit for purpose Maternity undertaken to ensure the correct and staff allocated correctly. Business staffing levels and skills are in Support place. Manager Aug 2024 A Aug 2024 A 15. To introduce legacy midwives • Review of legacy midwives roles and recruitment Director of Aug 2024 A (recently retired midwives) to processes. Midwifery support newly qualified staff and Practice education Education Lead R Red: Immediate remedial action required A Amber: Action in progress G Green: Complete Page 9 of 9 5|Page Report to the Trust Board of Directors Title: Agenda item: Sponsor: Author: Date: Purpose: Issue to be addressed: Patient Safety and Quality of Care in Pressurised Services 5.5 Joe Teape, Chief Operating Officer Duncan Linning-Karp, Deputy Chief Operating Officer 10 September 2024 Assurance Approval or reassurance X Ratification Information Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) services are under significant pressure nationally, with some high-profile cases of poor care highlighted, including in the press. In response NHSE has asked Trust Boards to assure themselves that they are doing all they can to: • Provide alternatives to emergency department attendance and admission, especially for those frail older people who are better served with a community response in their usual place of residence. • Maximise in-hospital flow with appropriate streaming, senior decision-making and board and ward rounds regularly throughout the day, and timely discharge, regardless of the pathway a patient is leaving hospital or a community bedded facility on. Response to the issue: This paper will outline UHS’s response to the above issues, including the improvement programmes focused on flow and the Emergency Department, the response to the UEC recovery plan year two document, work taking place across the local system and mitigations that take place when the Emergency Department becomes over-crowded. Implications: Clinical, organisational, governance, legal (Clinical, Organisational, Governance, Legal?) Risks: (Top 3) of carrying out the change / or not: • Harm to patients in the Emergency Department through prolonged waits and / or overcrowding. • Harm to patients who remain in hospital longer than necessary because of delayed discharge. • Harm to patients on an elective waiting list who are delayed because of a lack of capacity due to high levels of patients not meeting the criteria to reside. Summary: Conclusion Trust Board is asked to note this report. and/or recommendation Page 1 of 10 Introduction NHS England wrote to all NHS Trusts (see Appendix 1) to ask Trust Boards to assure themselves that Trusts, and wider systems, were doing all they can to reduce demand on Emergency Departments, improve flow across the UEC pathways including out of hospital, ensure basic standards of care are in place across all care settings and ensure executive visibility and leadership, and non-executive presence. This paper provides assurance to the Board, addressing the key requests outlined in the letter and benchmarks UHS’s response to the year two UEC plan. It also outlines work taking place in the local system to support admission avoidance and reduce delayed discharge. Finally, it outlines mitigations the organisation has put in place to manage risk at times when the Emergency Department (ED) is overcrowded, and to support flow through the hospital. Patient Safety and Quality of Care in Pressurised Services NHSE wrote to all Trusts to outline key actions Boards were required to assure themselves on to ensure patient safety and quality of care is maintained in pressurised services. The table below outlines those actions and UHS’s compliance against them. Request Provide alternatives to emergency department attendance and admission, especially for those frail older people who are better served with a community response in their usual place of residence. Maximise in-hospital flow with appropriate streaming, senior decision-making and board and ward rounds regularly throughout the day, and timely discharge, regardless of the pathway a patient is leaving hospital or a community bedded facility on. Their organisations and systems are implementing the actions set out in the UEC Recovery Plan year 2 letter. Basic standards of care, based on the CQC’s fundamental standards, are in place in all care settings. Services across the whole system are supporting flow out of ED and out of hospital, including making full and appropriate use of the Better Care Fund. Executive teams and Boards have visibility of the Seven Day Hospital Services audit results, as set out in the relevant Board Assurance Framework guidance. There is consistent, visible, executive leadership across the UEC pathway and appropriate escalation protocols in place Assurance There are community alternatives in place, including Urgent Community Response and virtual wards. More work is taking place to set-up Integrated Neighbourhood Teams. In-hospital flow is something UHS is continuously seeking to improve via the inpatient flow programme, focusing on all aspects of flow within the hospital’s control and ensuring patients only remain in hospital when necessary. Ward rounds take place daily with appropriate input from a senior decision maker. UHS is compliant with these actions, outlined in the following section. Fundamentals of care standards have been rolled out across the organisation. A CQC Oversight Group, chaired by the CNO, provides assurance on compliance against the standards. The wider system does support flow out of ED and the wider hospital, and the Better Care fund is used. However, the system continues to struggle with a high number of patients remaining in hospital who do not meet the criteria to reside. Seven Day Hospital Services are reported via the annual Quality Account to the Board and the Trust is compliant. A further audit is due in 2024. There is consistent, visible executive leadership across the UEC pathway including a fortnightly ED meeting chaired Page 2 of 10 every day of the week at both trust and system level. Regular non-executive director safety walkabouts take place where patients are asked about their experiences in real time and these are relayed back to the Board. by the Chief Executive, a monthly UEC Board chaired by the COO, a monthly CQC Oversight meeting chaired by the CNO and regular executive walkabouts. UHS has an internal escalation plan as does the wider system. The Trust appointed a clinical Director for Urgent and Emergency Care. Non-executive directors undertake walkabouts as part of Trust Board. Year two UEC Plan Benchmarking against the second year of the UEC plan shows that UHS is compliant against the key metrics. There has, however, been a reduction rather than an increase in some out of hospital capacity because of the financial challenges facing the ICB, Local Authorities and wider system. Request 1A. Maintain acute G&A beds at the level funded and agreed through operating plans in 2023/24. 1B. Maintain ambulance capacity and support the development of services that reduce ambulance conveyances to acute hospitals. 1C. Focus on reduction in ambulance handover delays to support system flow. 1D. Expand bedded and non-bedded intermediate care capacity, to support improvements in hospital discharge and enable community step-up care. 1E. Improve access to virtual wards through improvements in utilisation, access from home pathways, and a focus on frailty, acute respiratory infection, heart failure, and children and young people. 2A. Focus on reductions in admitted and non-admitted time in ED. Assurance UHS’s 2024/25 plan included the dual aspirations of halving the number of patients not meeting the criteria to reside and reducing length of stay by 5%. If these were both met, it is unlikely that we would require all current beds. However, while beds that are not needed would not be staffed, they will remain available if needed. In recent months routine surge capacity has remained closed b
Url: /Media/UHS-website-2019/Docs/About-the-Trust/Trust-governance-and-corporate-docs/2024-Trust-documents/Papers-Trust-Board-10-September-2024.pdf

2025 WDES report and action plan

Description: Workforce Disability Equality Standard Annual Report 2025 1 Executive Summary The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of ten metrics that helps NHS organisations to compare the experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff. These metrics are necessary because evidence and research shows that the level of reported discrimination and inequality for disabled people working in the NHS continues to show a disparity of experience. The WDES was commissioned by the Equality and Diversity Council (EDC) and developed through extensive engagement with Trusts and key stakeholders. It is mandated through the NHS Standard Contract. Implementation of the WDES became an obligatory requirement for national healthcare organisations in 2019, so this is the sixth reporting year for the WDES metrics. It is important to note that the data sources for the WDES metrics are a combination of the 2024 National Staff Survey, and workforce data reported at the national data collection cut-off date of 31 March 2025. All NHS organisations are required to produce an action plan to articulate the response to the WDES results, this can be found within the appendices (appendix 1). Through the implementation of the UHS Inclusion and Belonging Strategy 2023-2026, we have incorporated the WDES actions contained in this report into the work programme that will deliver the strategy. The key findings from the 2025 submission show: 1. Disabled staff represent 11.26% of the workforce. Overall, this is a 0.29% increase from 2024 data, however this is not representative of wider society which currently shows 23% of the UK working age population has a disability. Further analysis shows there has been a minimal increase in representation of disabled staff within the nonclinical workforce with an exception of cluster 3 (band 8a to 8b), and no overall change across the clinical workforce with increases in cluster 2 (bands 5-7) and cluster 7 (Medical and dental trainee grades). 2. Data suggests that disabled shortlisted applicants are 0.89 times more likely than nondisabled applicants to be appointed to a vacant post. This is a minimal change in comparison to last year which was 0.96% and suggests that people with disabilities are more likely to be appointed than those without disabilities or long-term illness. A score of 1 indicates equal opportunity and anything under 1 indicates more likely, over 1 is less likely. 3. In line with technical guidance, this data does not need to be analysed due to less than 10 capability processes. However there has been a slight increase of disabled individuals entering into the capability process in comparison to 2024. 4. Disabled staff are more likely than non-disabled staff to experience bullying, harassment and abuse from patients, service users, relatives, members of the public, managers and colleagues than non-disabled counterparts, with the disparity gap reducing this year. 5. Disabled staff are less inclined to believe the Trust provides equal opportunities for career development as compared to those staff without disabilities, however the disparity gap reduced this year. 2 6. Disabled staff continue to feel more pressure than non-disabled staff to attend work when unwell. However, this pressure has lessened over the past year, and the disparity between the two groups has also narrowed. 7. Disabled staff report slightly lower levels of satisfaction than non-disabled staff regarding how much the Trust values their work. 8. There has been a minimal decrease in disabled staff saying that UHS have made adequate adjustments for them to carry out their work. 9. The staff engagement score for disabled and non-disabled staff is on par with each other and with that of overall staff engagement at UHS. 10. Disabled staff represent 8.3% on the Trust Board, which is an increase from there being nil representation in 2024. However, this is still not representative to the organisation or wider society. In relation to the 10 metrics, improvements can be seen in metric 1,2, 4a, 4b, 5, 6 and 10. However these could be argued to be insignificant in their minimal nature. Unfortunately, there has either been a worsening or data has remained static in all other metrics. Conclusion and recommendations The WDES data 2025 confirms that the priorities in our Inclusion and Belonging Strategy are the right ones, to improve or eliminate disparity between experiences of people with long term illness, and disability and those without. We must maintain our focus on: 1. Inclusive recruitment practices and equal opportunities: now having completed the large-scale review of current recruitment practices to eliminate bias from the systems and promote inclusivity the new Inclusive Recruitment Programme has been launched. Recruiting managers are being encouraged to complete or refresh on these aspects of inclusive recruitment techniques and criteria-based methods to ensure bias in recruitment is removed. To ensure we align with the NHS England publishes national recruitment policy framework | NHS Employers. Our talent management programme will provide further opportunities for people with disabilities and long-term illness to access development. 2. Workforce reflecting our wider communities: with the Inclusive Recruitment programme, we will continue to make recruitment processes inclusive and therefore not pose any barriers to the community in terms of applying for roles at UHS. We will be working with specialist partners to help us to self-assess our environments for people with disabilities or long-term illness. We will continue to signpost unsuccessful applicants to resources on the Careers@UHS website to help them to succeed next time. We will continue to promote declarations to ensure we can measure our representation across our workforce and consider a target for 13% of people with disabilities and long-term illness in our workforce to declare their disability through ESR. Encourage EDI steering groups to understand the WDES metrics at their divisional level. 3 3. Safe and healthy working environments: Our Inclusion and Belonging strategy states a clear intent for UHS to become an anti-racist and anti-discriminatory organisation. We aim to continue to decrease disparity of experience by 5% across all indicators in the WDES which will either significantly reduce or eliminate disparity altogether. We will strengthen collaboration with colleagues leading on hate crime and violence and aggression to ensure robust reporting mechanisms and effective use of data to drive accountability and meaningful action and link to the Being safe at UHS priorities. We will also examine the root causes of the disproportionate impact on staff with disabilities or long-term conditions who experience discrimination, harassment, bullying, or abuse, and identify any emerging trends within the Trust that require targeted intervention to improve the day-to-day experience of working at the Trust for disabled staff and these individuals feel valued. The link to the leadership and management work programme is a critical enabler of creating safe and healthy work environments. 4. Inclusive leadership and management: Ensure leaders and managers are clear on their accountabilities with regards to supporting people with disability and long-term illness and the responsibilities they hold to deliver the actions within the Inclusion and Belonging strategy this will continue to be championed through the divisional EDI steering groups. We want to give leaders and managers the tools and opportunities to better support disabled staff and those from protected groups. This includes helping leaders and managers understand their own biases, how they lead and make decisions, and how to challenge behaviour that goes against our Trust’s values. We will support them to be strong allies and role models, understand the legal responsibilities around equality, and see how diversity can strengthen team performance. Finally, we will make sure they know what is needed to create an inclusive environment where people with disabilities feel respected and valued. Our action plan which can be found in the appendices will continue to be reviewed and proposed actions will continue to be discussed in terms of progress through governance processes including: Equality diversity and inclusion council, inclusion and belonging operational group, people board and people and organisational development committee. This analysis report along with the relevant action plan will be published on our public website by 31st October to meet the requirements set by the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES). 4 Appendices Appendix 1: WDES Action Plan 2025 WDES Themes / Areas Proposed actions 1: Workforce reflecting our communities, at all roles, at all levels; ensuring those who are underrepresented groups can access support to thrive, excel and belong within their roles. a) To continue to develop and support an annual programme of Positive Action Programmes both UHS and HIOW system wide; for those who have disabilities and/or long-term conditions as well as other protected characteristics. Acknowledging individuals experience of barriers to promotion, development and career progression. Continued sponsorship will be offered to delegates post completion of a programme including career coaching, career development workshops and an offer of attending a mock development centre. b) Talent development programme for individuals with a disability and/or longterm condition. Through the divisional EDI steering groups work to engage senior leaders in supporting the career development, pathways, training and development of individual’s, ensuring talent workstreams and pipelines that encourage opportunity at earlier stages than current and may include longterm career planning. Develop a talent pipeline/talent management plan to include stretch activities, secondments, shadowing, specialist training, qualifications, coaching and mentoring where it is anticipated a career change will be necessary. This will look at strengthening as well as unearthing our current talent within UHS and ensuring that individuals continue to thrive, excel and belong and we support them to do this. c) Working with the regional NHS recruitment hub continue to build on our relationship with the Southampton job centre. Continue to liaise, attend and promote UHS as an employer of choice to disabled individuals within the wider community, the support that is offered and the career opportunities that available including that of our volunteering roles. Responsible for Actions Organisational development team Organisational development team Organisational development team / HR Recruitment team and Inclusive recruitment working group Deadline / review date August 2026 September 2026 August 2026 5 Appendix 1: WDES Action Plan 2024 d) Propose and agree a declaration target of 13% throughout the organisation for those who identify as having a disability and/or long-term condition. Representation within the UK working population is currently 23%. To achieve this workstreams will include more in-depth narrative about declaration of disability and its importance within the onboarding and induction process within UHS and will include literature on the processes of how to declare. Continue with lived experiences pieces and continue to socialise within internal and external communications methods. Continue to at every opportunity irradicate stigma surrounding what happens if an individual declares a disability and continue to showcase the support we offer to individuals within the organisation as a disability confident employer. Organisational development team / Chief People Officer 2: Safe and healthy working environments, free from aggression, hate and discrimination a) Fully continue to support established divisional EDI Steering Groups to drive actions and improvements derived from disability specific metrics throughout all teams, care groups and divisions. Encourage EDI steering groups to understand the WDES indicators at their divisional level. Organisational development team b) Continue to embed a culture of Allyship, The Actionable Allyship – Stop.Start.Continue programme will continue on the statutory and mandatory matrix once only for all staff to complete. This will provide individuals with the insight, knowledge and skill and to be active allies within a moment of challenging non inclusive behaviours and supporting our statement in being an anti-discriminatory organisation and in turn decrease the disparity of experience between those who have disabilities and those who do not. Completion of the training will be possible by virtual, face to face or Elearning package and highlighted on corporate induction for all new starters. To link with the violence and aggression and Freedom to speak up initiatives and consider how we equip people with the practical skills to enable them to deal with conflict in the moment. Organisational development team c) Develop a process where conversations about long-term conditions and disabilities are standard processes within 1.2.1’s, including a conversation template. Highlighting all individual’s responsibility to show allyship and continue to support individuals throughout their work at UHS. Organisational development team August 2026 September 2026 April 2026 August 2026 6 3: Recruitment processes which free from bias and are inclusive 4: Inclusive leadership and management 5: Networks and partnerships that thrive and support creation of an inclusive and safe place to work. a) Encourage new managers involved in recruitment and selection to complete Head of Talent attraction April 2026 the new Inclusive recruitment e-learning. / HR Recruitment Team b) Develop an inclusive employer recruitment campaign in embedding our Disability confident status and our intentions to move towards disability confident leader within the next year. a) Promote EDI focused objectives with Senior leaders. b) Inclusive leadership and management as part of the UHS Managers Induction Programme. Head of HR / Organisational development team/ LID Network Organisational development Partner Organisational development team April 2026 July 2026 July 2026 c) Implementation of ongoing learning and development opportunities to enable leaders and managers to role model inclusive behaviours every day. For example: - Inclusive meetings - Agile working - Equality impact assessment - Adjustments required to enable people to thrive and be at their best at work. - Creating environments for people to succeed - Inclusive leadership behaviours aligned to our values a) Development programmes for Networks and Network Chairs clearly identifying roles to enable leadership of highly active networks, clarity of purpose and future plans. Development opportunities will include coaching, mentoring, influential leadership skills, recognising their contributions as career development. Organisational development team Organisational development Partner September 2026 December 2025 b) Establish a workplace adjustments working group to develop and implement appropriate guidance throughout the organisation. With the additional rollout of a workplace adjustments passport and guidance for managers and individuals. Organisational development team/ Occupational health July 2026 7 Appendix 2 Metric 1: Percentage of staff in AFC pay bands or medical and dental sub-groups and very senior managers (including executive board members) compared with the percentage of staff in the overall workforce. Fig. 1 Non-Clinical workforce presentation 2024 2025 Pay clusters: Non-clinical Total staff Total in pay disabled cluster staff Total nondisabled staff Total unknown staff Total staff Total in pay disabled cluster staff Total nondisabled staff Total unknown staff Cluster 1 Bands 1-4 2056 13.9% 75% 11.2% 2086 14.2% 76.8% 8.9% (285) (1541) (230) (294) (1589) (185) Cluster 2 Bands 5-7 802 13.2% 79.2% 7.6% 829 13.5% 79.5% 7% (106) (635) (61) (112) (659) (58) Cluster 3 Bands 8a-8b 237 12.2% 76.4% 11.2% 259 11.6% 79.9% 8.5% (29) (181) (27) (30) (207) (22) 8 Cluster 4 Bands 8c-9 & VSM 98 5.1% (5) 87.8% (86) 7.1% (7) 96 10.4% (10) 84.4% (81) 5.2% (5) Fig 2. Clinical workforce representation 2024 2025 Pay clusters: Total staff Clinical in pay cluster Total disabled staff Total nondisabled staff Total unknown staff Cluster 1 Bands 1-4 2459 Cluster 2 Bands 5 – 7 5875 Cluster 3 Bands 8a –b 471 12.7% (312) 80.0% (1989) 11.3% (666) 79.4% (4662) 13.2% 71.3% 6.4% (158) 9.3% (547) 15.5% Total staff in pay cluster Total disabled staff 2510 11.7% (294) 6101 11.9% (723) 557 12.6% Total nondisabled staff Total unknown staff 83.2% (2089) 80.8% (4931) 75.2% 5.1% (127) 7.3% (447) 12.2% 9 Cluster 4 Bands 8C-9 & 43 VSM Cluster 5 Medical & 940 Dental staff, consultants Cluster 6 Medical & 125 Dental staff, non- consultants career grades Cluster 7 Medical & Dental staff, medical & dental trainee grades 1164 (62) (336) (73) (70) 20.9% 55.8% 23.3% 48 18.8% (9) (24) (10) (9) 6.06% (57) 78.62% (739) 15.32% (144) 1000 6% (60) 4.80% 69.60% 25.60% 148 4% (6) (87) (32) (6) 2.49% (29) 92.44% (1076) 5.07% (59) 1205 4.5% (54) (419) 70.8% (34) (68) 10.4% (5) 81% (810) 13% (130) 72.3% (107) 23.6% (35) 92% (1108) 3.6% (43) 10 The current 2025 data shows an increase in declaration rates in terms of the overall representation of disabled staff within the UHS workforce. Disabled staff represent 11.26% of the workforce. Overall, this is a 0.29% increase from 2024 data, however this is not representative of wider society which currently shows 23% of the UK working age population has a disability. Further analysis shows there has been a minimal increase in representation of disabled staff within the non-clinical workforce with an exception of cluster 4 (band 8c to 9 and VSM), and no overall change across the clinical workforce with increases in cluster 2 (bands 5-7) and cluster 7 (Medical and dental trainee grades). Metric 2 Relative likelihood of staff being appointed from shortlisting across all posts Number of shortlisted applicants Number appointed from shortlisting Relative likelihood of non-disabled staff being appointed from shortlisting compared to disabled staff 2025 Disabled Non-Disabled 767 8561 187 1865 0.89 This metric indicates that disabled staff are 0.89 more likely to be appointed from shortlisting than non-disabled staff. This is an improvement on the 2024 submission which showed a relative likelihood of 0.96. A score below 1 indicates positive equal opportunity. Metric 3 Relative likelihood of staff entering the formal capability process, as measured by entry into a formal capability process Number of staff entering the formal capability process 2025 Disabled Non-Disabled 3 13 11 Relative likelihood of Disabled staff entering the 0 formal capability process compared to non-disabled staff In line with WDES technical guidance, there is no requirement to analyse the relative likelihood where there are fewer than 10 cases reported involving disabled staff. However it should be noted that there has been a slight increase of cases since the 2024 data submission. Metric 4: (Part A) Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public, managers and other colleagues; (% of total participants in staff survey related question, not % of total workforce) Harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/service users, their relatives, or other members of the public: 2024: Disabled – 29%, Non-Disabled – 23.59% 2025: Disabled – 25.89%, Non-Disabled – 22.67% There has been a decrease in numbers of disabled staff reporting they have experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public. This has decreased by 3.1% from 29% (2024) to 25.89% (2025). There has also been a decrease for non-disabled staff of only 0.9%. There is reduced disparity of 3.2% reduced from 5.4% in 2024. Harassment, bullying or abuse from managers: 2024: Disabled –13.3%, Non-Disabled – 8.26% 2025: Disabled – 10.7%; Non-Disabled – 6.3 % The data indicates a 2.6% reduction for those with disabilities experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse by managers to 10.7% compared to 13.3%. There has also been less of a decrease for non-disabled staff of 1.9%. The disparity between disabled and non-disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse by a manager has reduced to 4.4% from 5% for 2024. Harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues: 2024: Disabled – 25.8%, Non-Disabled – 16.19% 2025: Disabled – 21%; Non-Disabled – 13.9% There is a decrease from of 4.8% from 25.8% in 2024 to 21% in 2025 in disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues. It remains a concern that 7.1% more disabled staff overall are experiencing such behaviours compared to non-disabled staff, 12 however there is an improvement with the disparity gap reducing by 2.5% from 3.6% in 2024 which could be due to non-disabled staff experiencing less of a reduction in this metric. Metric 4: (Part B) Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff saying that the last time they experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work, they or a colleague reported it (question 14d). 2024: Disabled – 50%, Non-Disabled – 48.75% 2025: Disabled – 54.2%; Non-Disabled – 51.89% This data indicates a continued improvement of the likelihood of this indicator from 2024 of 4.2%. The indicator for non-disabled has also improved so the disparity has increased by 1% to 2.3%. Metric 5: Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff believing that the Trust provides equal opportunities for career development (question 15). 2024: Disabled – 57.9%, Non-Disabled – 62.33% 2025: Disabled – 58.63%; Non-Disabled – 61.94% This indicator shows that 58.63% of disabled staff more likely to think that the Trust offers equal opportunities for career progression in comparison to 57.9% in the 2024 data which is a slight improvement of 0.73%. It should also be noted that disabled staff are 3.3% less inclined to believe the Trust provides equal opportunities for career development as compared to those staff without disabilities, with the disparity gap reducing to 1.1% from 2%. Metric 6: Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff saying that they have felt pressure from their manager to come to work, despite not feeling well enough to perform their duties (question 11e). 2024: Disabled – 26.93%, Non-Disabled – 16.36% 2025: Disabled – 24.63%; Non-Disabled – 17.92% Data submission shows a decrease of 2.3% to 24.63% of Disabled staff felt pressure to come to work despite feeling unwell, in comparison to 17.92% of non-Disabled staff which was an increase of 1.56% on the 2024 data. The disparity of experience between Disabled and non-Disabled staff has reduced by 3.87%. 13 Metric 7: Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff saying that they are satisfied with the extent to which their organisation values their work (question 46). 2024: Disabled – 39.74%, Non-Disabled – 49.53% 2025: Disabled – 40.8%; Non-Disabled – 49.2% The 2024 data submission shows an increase of 1% in Disabled staff perceptions on feeling valued by the organisation, with Disabled staff reporting 40.8%. Non-disabled staff shows a lower rate of increase so the disparity has reduced slightly to 1.39%. Metric 8: Percentage of Disabled staff saying that their employer has made adequate adjustment(s) to enable them to carry out their work. 2024: 81.3% 2025: 79.26% There has been a 2% decrease in staff saying that UHS have made adequate adjustments for them to carry out their work since 2024. Metric 9: (Part A) The staff engagement % score for Disabled staff, compared to Non-Disabled staff and the overall engagement % score for the organisation. 2024: Disabled – 6.70%, Non-Disabled – 7.15% UHS overall 7.04% 2025: Disabled – 6.72%; Non-Disabled – 7.15% UHS overall 7.05% It is reassuring to note that the staff engagement score for disabled and non-disabled staff is on par with each other and with that of overall staff engagement at UHS. Metric 10: Board Voting by % disability 11.26% of the UHS population have declared a disability. There is one Trust Board members (voting or non-voting) who have declared a disability or long-term illness, and this is an increase from the 2024 data submission. There are currently 12 Trust board members (voting or non-voting). 14 Appendix 3 Infographic for WDES metrics 15 16
Url: /Media/UHS-website-2019/Docs/About-the-Trust/Equality-reports/2025-wdes-report-and-action-plan.pdf

WDES report and action plan 2024

Description: Workforce Disability Equality Standard Annual Report 2024 1 Executive Summary The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of ten metrics that helps NHS organisations to compare the experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff. These metrics are necessary because evidence and research shows that the level of reported discrimination and inequality for disabled people working in the NHS is higher than any other protected characteristic. The WDES was commissioned by the Equality and Diversity Council (EDC) and developed through extensive engagement with Trusts and key stakeholders. It is mandated through the NHS Standard Contract. Implementation of the WDES became an obligatory requirement for national healthcare organisations in 2019, so this is the sixth reporting year for the WDES metrics. It is important to note that the data sources for the WDES metrics are a combination of the 2023 National Staff Survey, and workforce data reported at the national data collection cut-off date of 31 March 2024. All NHS organisations are required to produce an action plan to articulate the response to the WDES results, this can be found within the appendices (appendix 1). Through the implementation of the UHS Inclusion and Belonging Strategy 2023-2026, we have incorporated the WDES actions contained in this report into the work programme that will deliver the strategy. The key findings from the 2024 submission show: 1. Disabled staff represent 10.97% of the workforce. Overall, this is a 0.19% decrease from 2023 data, this is not representative of wider society which currently shows around 25% of the working age population has a disability. Further analysis shows there has been a minimal increase in representation of disabled staff within the nonclinical workforce and a decrease across the clinical workforce with an exception to cluster 4 (band 8c to 9 and VSM). 2. Data suggests that disabled shortlisted applicants are 0.96times likely than nondisabled applicants to be appointed to a vacant post. This is a minimal CHANGE in comparison to last year and suggests that people with disabilities are equally likely to be appointed than those without disabilities or long term illness. A score of 1 indicates equal opportunity and anything under 1 indicates more likely, over 1 is less likely. 3. In line with technical guidance, this data does not need to be analysed due to less than 10 capability processes. However there has been an DECREASE of disabled individuals entering into the capability process in comparison to 2023. 4. Disabled staff are more likely than non-disabled staff to experience bullying, harassment and abuse from patients, service users, relatives, members of the public, managers and colleagues than non-disabled counterparts, WITH THE DISPARITY GAP WIDENING THIS YEAR. 5. Disabled staff are less inclined to believe the Trust provides equal opportunities for career development as compared to those staff without disabilities. 6. Disabled staff feel more pressure than non-disabled staff to come to work when unwell. 7. Disabled staff are less satisfied than non-disabled staff that the Trust values their work. 8. There has been A MINIMAL increase in Disabled staff saying that UHS have made adequate adjustments for them to carry out their work. 9. The staff engagement score for disabled and non-disabled staff is on par with each other and with that of overall staff engagement at UHS. 10. There continues to be no declared representation of disabled staff on the Trust Board. 2 In relation to the 10 metrics, improvements can be seen in metric 3, 4a, 4b and 7. However these could be argued to be insignificant in their minimal nature. Unfortunately there has either been a worsening or data has remained static in all other metrics. With this in mind, we are committed in continuing to have meaningful engagement with our disabled staff to co-create short and long-term actions with the support of the Long-term Illness and Disability Network to help move the Trust towards disability equality. Conclusion and recommendations The WDES data 2024 confirms that the priorities in our Inclusion and Belonging Strategy are the right ones, to improve or eliminate disparity between experiences of people with long term illness, and disability and those without. We must maintain our focus on: 1. Inclusive recruitment practices and equal opportunities: Large scale review of current recruitment practices to eliminate bias from the systems and promote inclusivity. The Inclusive Recruitment Programme will ensure that recruiting managers are trained in inclusive recruitment techniques and criteria based methods will ensure bias is removed. We will align with the national programme for overhauling recruitment and promotion and contribute to this work wherever possible. The implementation and embedding of processes that ensure inclusive recruitment and equal opportunities for all. Our talent management programme will provide further opportunities for people with disabilities and long term illness to access development. 2. Workforce reflecting our wider communities: In line with the Inclusive Recruitment programme, we will be increasing efforts to make recruitment processes inclusive and therefore not post any barriers to the community in terms of applying for roles at UHS. We will be working with specialist partners to help us to self-assess our environments for people with disabilities or long term illness. Our recruitment outreach will also work more with local communities to attract people from the city from diverse backgrounds. We will provide career toolkits for all people who are unsuccessful at interviews to help them to succeed next time. We will be continuing to promote declarations to ensure we can measure our representation across our workforce and consider a target for % of people with disabilities and long term illness in our workforce which is in line with the reported demographic of our communities. 3. Safe and healthy working environments: Our Inclusion and Belonging strategy states a clear intent for UHS to become an anti-racist and anti-discriminatory organisation. We aim to decrease disparity of experience by 5% across all indicators in the WDES which will either reduce by half or eliminate disparity altogether. We will be working closer with colleagues who lead on hate crime, violence and aggression to ensure robust mechanisms for reporting of incidence and the data is used to steer accountability and meaningful action. We will identify mechanisms and root causes of the disproportionality of staff with disabilities or long term illness experiencing discrimination, harassment, bullying and/or abuse and in turn whether there are trends within the Trust that need targeted action. The link to the leadership and management work programme is a critical enabler of creating safe and healthy work environments. Improve the day-to-day experience of working at the Trust for disabled staff, ensuring their experience is free from discrimination, bullying, harassment and/or abuse and individuals feel they are valued. 3 4. Inclusive leadership and management: Ensure leaders and managers are clear on their accountabilities with regards to supporting people with disability and long term illness and the responsibilities they hold to deliver the actions within the Inclusion and Belonging strategy. To have development opportunities in supporting disabled staff and those who may identify with a protected characteristic. That all leaders and managers understand their own bias and can access learning in terms of how they behave, lead and make decisions. To support leaders and managers to understand their role as allies and role models, and how to challenge behaviours or actions that are not in line with Trust policy or values. To support leader and managers to develop greater awareness of the legal aspects of their roles in relation to equality, and how diversity and difference can enhance their team delivery and performance. Ensure leaders and managers have learning development opportunities to support individuals with disabilities and know their responsibilities in relation to the inclusion agenda and specifically actions required to ensure people with disabilities feel valued in the wider workforce. Our action plan which can be found in the appendices will continue to be reviewed. The proposed actions will continue to be discussed in terms of progress at Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Council, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and People and Organisational development Committee. This analysis report along with the relevant action plan will be published on our public website by 31st October to meet the requirements set by the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES). 4 Appendices Appendix 1: WDES Action Plan 2024 WDES Themes / Areas Proposed actions 1: Workforce reflecting our communities, at all roles, at all levels; ensuring those who are underrepresented groups can access support to thrive, excel and belong within their roles. a) To continue to develop and support an annual programme of Positive Action Programmes both UHS and HIOW system wide; for those who have disabilities and/or long-term conditions as well as other protected characteristics. Acknowledging individuals experience of barriers to promotion, development and career progression. Continued sponsorship will be offered to delegates post completion of a programme including career coaching, career development workshops, reciprocal mentoring and an offer of attending a mock development centres. b) Talent development programme for individuals with a disability and/or longterm condition. Supporting the career development, pathways, training and development of individual’s, ensuring talent workstreams and pipelines that encourage opportunity at earlier stages than current and may include longterm career planning. Develop a talent pipeline/talent management plan to include stretch activities, secondments, shadowing, specialist training, qualifications, coaching and mentoring where it is anticipated a career change will be necessary. This will look at strengthening as well as unearthing our current talent within UHS and ensuring that individuals continue to thrive, excel and belong and we support them to do this. c) Continue to build on newly found working relationship with Southampton job centre. Continue to liaise, attend and promote UHS as an employer of choice to disabled individuals within the wider community, the support that is offered and the career opportunities that available including that of our volunteering roles. Responsible for Actions Organisational development team and Partner/ Head of OD Organisational development team and Partner/ Head of OD Organisational development team and Partner/ HR Recruitment team and Inclusive recruitment working group Deadline / review date August 2025 September 2025 April 2025 5 Appendix 1: WDES Action Plan 2024 2: Safe and healthy working environments, free from aggression, hate and discrimination d) Propose and agree a declaration target throughout the organisation for those who identify as having a disability and/or long-term condition. Representation within wider society is currently 22%. To achieve this workstreams will include more in-depth narrative about declaration of disability and its importance within the onboarding and induction process within UHS and will include literature on the processes of how to declare. Continue with lived experiences pieces and continue to socialise within internal and external communications methods. Continue to at every opportunity irradicate stigma surrounding what happens if an individual declares a disability and continue to showcase the support we offer to individuals within the organisation as a disability confident employer. a) Fully continue to support established divisional EDI Steering Groups to drive actions and improvements derived from disability specific metrics throughout all teams, care groups and divisions. Organisational development team and Partner/ Head of OD/ Chief People Officer Organisational development team and Partner/ Head of OD b) Develop a culture of Allyship: All staff to participate in Actionable Allyship training by 2024. The Actionable Allyship – Stop.Start.Continue programme will continue on the statutory and mandatory matrix for all staff to complete. This will provide individuals with the insight, knowledge and skill and to be active allies within a moment of challenging non inclusive behaviours and supporting our statement in being an anti-discriminatory organisation and in turn decrease the disparity of experience between those who have disabilities and those who don’t. Completion of the training will be possible by virtual, face to face or E-learning package. Organisational development team and Partner July 2025 September 2025 April 2025 c) Develop a process where conversation of long-term conditions and disabilities are standard processes within 1.2.1’s, wellbeing conversations and appraisal conversations. Highlighting all individual’s responsibility to show allyship and continue to support individuals throughout their work at UHS. Organisational development team and Partner August 2025 3: Recruitment processes which free a) Implement a work programme to review and improve the equity of recruitment Organisational processes and practices that impact individuals with a disability and/or long- development team and term condition. Working group to include partnership with our Staff Network Partner/ HR Recruitment April 2025 6 from bias and are inclusive 4: Inclusive leadership and management 5: Networks and partnerships that thrive and support creation of leads and representation from our diverse workforce. The working group will look at each stage and deliver on recommendations from engagement within the process. Align to the NHS People Plan England/Improvement High Impact Actions and Inclusive Recruitment Programme. b) Inclusive training, learning and development for all people involved in recruitment and attraction. team and Inclusive recruitment working group Head of Talent attraction April 2025 / HR Recruitment Team c) Deliver a truly Disability friendly process with disability inclusive practices as standard. This will include processes from pre-employment to recruitment, through to employment and the onboarding process. d) Develop an inclusive employer recruitment campaign in embedding our Disability confident status and our intentions to move towards disability confident leader within the next 3 years. a) Board and Senior leadership programmes to include the element for all leaders plus strategic and cultural responsibilities for equality, diversity and inclusion. b) Inclusive leadership and management as part of the UHS Managers Induction Programme. c) Implementation of ongoing learning and development opportunities to enable leaders and managers to role model inclusive behaviours every day. For example: - Inclusive meetings - Agile working - Equality impact assessment - Adjustments required to enable people to thrive and be at their best at work. - Creating environments for people to succeed - Inclusive leadership behaviours aligned to our values a) Development programmes for Networks and Network Chairs clearly identifying roles to enable leadership of highly active networks, clarity of Head of HR / Organisational development team and Partner Head of HR / Organisational development team and Partner/ LID Network Head of OD Organisational development team and Partner Organisational development team and Partner/ Head of OD Head of OD April 2025 April 2025 July 2025 July 2025 September 2025 September 2025 7 an inclusive and safe place to work. purpose and future plans. Development opportunities will include coaching, mentoring, influential leadership skills, recognising their contributions as career development. b) Establish a workplace adjustments working group to develop and implement appropriate guidance throughout the organisation. With the additional rollout of a workplace adjustments passport. Organisational development team and Partner/ Head of OD/ Occupational health July 2025 Appendix 2 Metric 1: Percentage of staff in AFC pay bands or medical and dental sub-groups and very senior managers (including executive board members) compared with the percentage of staff in the overall workforce. Fig. 1 Non-Clinical workforce presentation 2023 2024 Pay clusters: Nonclinical Total staff in pay cluster Total disabled Total non- Total unknown Total staff in staff disabled staff staff pay cluster Total disabled Total non- Total unknown staff disabled staff staff Cluster 1 Bands 1-4 2023 13.1% 73.2% 13.7% 2056 13.9% 75% 11.2% (265) (1481) (277) (285) (1541) (230) Cluster 2 8 Bands 5-7 Cluster 3 Bands 8a8b Cluster 4 Bands 8c-9 & VSM 781 11.7% (91) 223 12.1% (27) 93 3.2% (3) 79.3% (619) 75.8% (169) 84.9% (79) 9.1% (71) 12.1% (27) 11.8% (11) 802 13.2% (106) 237 12.2% (29) 98 5.1% (5) 79.2% (635) 76.4% (181) 87.8% (86) 7.6% (61) 11.2% (230) 7.1% (7) 9 Fig 2. Clinical workforce representation 2022 2024 Pay clusters: Clinical Cluster 1 Bands 1-4 Cluster 2 Bands 5 – 7 Cluster 3 Bands 8a –b Cluster 4 Total staff in pay cluster Total disabled staff Total non- Total unknown Total staff in disabled staff staff pay cluster Total disabled Total non- Total unknown staff disabled staff staff 2478 13.4% (333) 78.7% (1949) 7.9% (196) 2459 12.7% (312) 80.0% (1989) 6.4% (158) 5593 12.3% (688) 76.5% (4280) 11.2% (625) 5875 11.3% (666) 79.4% (4662) 9.3% (547) 427 14.3% 66.0% 19.7% 471 (61) (282) (84) 13.2% (62) 71.3% (336) 15.5% (73) 10 Bands 8C-9 & VSM 46 Cluster 5 Medical & Dental 948 staff, consultants Cluster 6 Medical & Dental 580 staff, non- consultants career grades Cluster 7 Medical & Dental 1103 staff, medical & dental trainee grades 19.6% (9) 6.12% (58) 5.34% (31) 2.81% (31) 52.2% 28.3% 43 (24) (13) 76.27% 17.62% 940 (723) (167) 86.38% 8.28% 125 (501) (48) 94.74% (1045) 2.45% (27) 1164 20.9% (9) 6.06% (57) 4.80% (6) 55.8% (24) 78.62% (739) 69.60% (87) 23.3% (10) 15.32% (144) 25.60% (32) 2.49% (29) 92.44% (1076) 5.07% (59) Owing largely to a successful risk assessment campaign throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, disclosure rates in 2020 and 2021 were close to accurately reflecting the local population. However, the 2023 and the current 2024 data shows either a static or steady yet continual decrease in declaration rates in terms of the overall representation of disabled staff within the UHS workforce. In the non-clinical workforce there is a slight exception of minimal increases throughout each cluster. Yet, there is a decrease in representation of disabled staff across all clusters within the clinical workforce. 11 Metric 2: Relative likelihood of disabled staff compared to non-disabled staff being appointed from shortlisting across all posts. Relative likelihood of staff being appointed from shortlisting across all posts Disabled 2024 Non-Disabled Number of shortlisted applicants 630 7736 Number appointed from shortlisting 140 1653 Relative likelihood of non-disabled staff being 0.96 appointed from shortlisting compared to disabled staff This metric indicates that non-disabled staff are 0.96less likely to be appointed from shortlisting than disabled staff. This compares relatively equal and remains static since the 2023 submission which showed a relative likelihood of 0.89. a score below 1 indicates positive equal opportunity. Metric 3: Relative likelihood of disabled staff compared to non-disabled staff entering the formal capability process, as measured by entry into the formal capability procedure. Relative likelihood of staff entering the formal capability process, as measured by entry into a formal capability process Number of staff entering the formal capability process Disabled 1 2024 Non-Disabled 11 12 Relative likelihood of Disabled staff entering the 0 formal capability process compared to non- disabled staff In line with WDES technical guidance, there is no requirement to analyse the relative likelihood where there are fewer than 10 cases reported involving disabled staff. However it should be noted that there has been a slight decrease of cases since the 2023 data submission. Metric 4: (Part A) Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public, managers and other colleagues; (%s of total participants in staff survey related question, not % of total workforce) Harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/service users, their relatives, or other members of the public: 2023: Disabled – 30.5%, Non-Disabled – 23.5% 2024: Disabled – 29.02%, Non-Disabled – 23.59% There has been a slight decrease in numbers of disabled staff reporting they have experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public. This has decreased by 1.5% from 30.5% (2023) to 29% (2024). Harassment, bullying or abuse from managers: 2023: Disabled – 11.6%; Non-Disabled – 6.8% 2024: Disabled –13.32%, Non-Disabled – 8.26% The data indicates a 1.7% worsening from 11.6% to 13.3% for those with disabilities experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse by managers. The disparity between disabled and non-disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse by a manager has widened to 5.1%. 13 Harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues: 2023: Disabled – 21.3%; Non-Disabled – 15.3% 2024: Disabled – 25.84%, Non-Disabled – 16.19% There is a significant 4.5% increase from 21.3% to 25.8%in disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues. it remains a concern that 9.6% more disabled staff overall are experiencing such behaviours compared to non disabled staff, with the disparity gap widening by 3.6%. Metric 4: (Part B) Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff saying that the last time they experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work, they or a colleague reported it. 2023: Disabled – 47.1%; Non-Disabled – 45.8% 2024: Disabled – 50%, Non-Disabled – 48.75% The 2024 data indicates a markable improvement of the likelihood of this indicator from 2023 of 2.9%. interestingly, the indicator for nondisabled has also improved. Metric 5: Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff believing that the Trust provides equal opportunities for career development. 2023: Disabled – 60.6%; Non-Disabled – 63.0% 2024: Disabled –57.91%, Non-Disabled – 62.33% This indicator shows that disabled staff are now 2.7% less likely to think that the trust offers equal opportunities for career progression in comparison to the 2023 data collectionwhich did show a slight improvement. It should also be noted that Disabled staff are 4.4% less inclined to believe the Trust provides equal opportunities for career development as compared to those staff without disabilities, with the disparity gap widening by a further 2%. 14 Metric 6: Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff saying that they have felt pressure from their manager to come to work, despite not feeling well enough to perform their duties. 2023: Disabled – 26.9%; Non-Disabled – 19.0% 2024: Disabled – 26.93, Non-Disabled – 16.36% Data submission shows 26.93% of Disabled staff felt pressure to come to work despite feeling unwell, in comparison to 16.36% of non-Disabled staff. This shows no improvement for disabled staff and a improvement of 2.6% for non-disabled staff. It remains evident that a disparity of experience between Disabled and non-Disabled staff of 10.6%, widening by a further 2.7%. Metric 7: Percentage of Disabled staff compared to Non-Disabled staff saying that they are satisfied with the extent to which their organisation values their work. 2023: Disabled – 39.8%; Non-Disabled – 48.7% 2024: Disabled – 39.74%, Non-Disabled – 49.53% The 2024 data submission shows an unremarkable decrease in Disabled staff perceptions on feeling valued by the organisation, with Disabled staff reporting 39.74% Metric 8: Percentage of Disabled staff saying that their employer has made adequate adjustment(s) to enable them to carry out their work. 2023: 81.0% 2024: 81.3% There has been a 0.3% increase in staff saying that UHS have made adequate adjustments for them to carry out their work. Metric 9: (Part A) The staff engagement % score for Disabled staff, compared to Non-Disabled staff and the overall engagement % score for the organisation. 2023: Disabled – 6.8%; Non-Disabled – 7.2%; UHS overall 7.1% 15 2024: Disabled – 6.70%, Non-Disabled – 7.15% UHS overall 7.04% It is reassuring to note that the staff engagement score for disabled and non-disabled staff is on par with each other and with that of overall staff engagement at UHS, despite overall engagement for this year having decreased. Metric 10: Board Voting by % disability 10.97% of the UHS population have declared a disability. There are no Trust Board members (voting or non-voting) who have declared a disability or long term illness. 16
Url: /Media/UHS-website-2019/Docs/About-the-Trust/Equality-reports/UHS-WDES-report-and-action-plan-2024.pdf

1 to 4 of 4

Browse site A to Z

Search results

WDES annual report 2022

Papers Trust Board - 10 September 2024

2025 WDES report and action plan

WDES report and action plan 2024

Site policies

Contact details

Useful links