Our hospitals are better places to work and receive care when we all feel included, respected, and welcome.

Our brilliant staff come from an incredibly diverse range of backgrounds and reflect the communities we are proud to serve – 66% of staff live in our three boroughs.

More than half of residents in Redbridge and in Barking and Dagenham are from an ethnic minority background, and in Havering this is almost one in five people.

Barking and Dagenham also has the highest number of children aged under four in the UK. But greatest growth in age demographics in all three boroughs is expected in people aged 65 and over.

Some of our communities also experience higher levels of deprivation.

Getting equality, diversity, and inclusion right for our staff and patients is key to achieving our Trust’s goals.

Our action plans

We are committed to ensuring all colleagues have equal access to career opportunities and receive fair treatment in the workplace.

We have worked with our staff networks to develop the following action plans:

Our LGBT+ action plan is focused on improving the experience of staff and patients irrespective of gender identity or sexual orientation and sets out our actions across the organisation after staff survey results and feedback from members of our LGBT+ staff network.

LGBT+ action plan 2024-25[pdf] 4MB

The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of ten evidenced-based metrics which enable NHS organisations to compare the experiences of staff with a disability to those without a disability.

Workforce Disability Equality Standard action plan 2024-25 [pdf] 115KB

The Gender Pay Gap report shows the difference in the average earnings between male and female employees.

Gender Pay Gap action plan 2023/24 [pdf] 2MB

The Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) is a set of indicators of workforce equality which enable NHS organisations to understand the nature of the challenge of workforce race equality, and for leaders to recognise it is their responsibility to help make the necessary changes.

Workforce Race Equality Standard action plan 2024-25 [pdf] 126KB

Our Equality Delivery System report supports out commitment to promoting equality of access and opportunity across all services. We're required to continually review and develop services to ensure they are accessible, modern, inclusive and meet the needs of the diverse population we serve.

Equality Delivery System report [pdf] 3MB

Equality impact assessments

We review our policies and procedures to ensure they reflect all nine protected characteristics included in the Equalities Act 2010. They are inclusive of:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• marriage and civil partnership
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion and belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

Staff networks

As part of our commitment to inclusion we thriving staff networks:

• Ability Not Disability network
• Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage (REACH) network
• LGBT+ network
• Men’s health network
• Women’s network

Get in touch 

If you'd like to find out more, email our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team: bhrut.editeam@nhs.net