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

Our brilliant staff are diverse, and so are the communities we are proud to serve.

Our new ‘Better Together’ campaign is a visual reminder of how important equality, diversity and inclusion are to us.

You may have spotted images of a jigsaw puzzle appearing around our Trust. This represents the unity of our staff, patients and communities and the diverse qualities each person brings.

The people in the jigsaw represent the nine characteristics that are protected from discrimination by UK law: race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion/belief, pregnancy/maternity, age, and marriage/civil partnership.

We recognise that some of our patients and staff with these protected characteristics do not always feel included, respected, and welcome at BHRUT. This is unacceptable and we are working hard to create a culture of inclusion.

One of the ways we encourage staff to get involved in making our Trust fairer is by joining one of our staff networks: Women’s; Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic; Ability not Disability and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (+).

Creating hospitals where everyone feels safe to be themselves is a priority for us, and the campaign marks the start of us making change and achieving this.

We’re also delighted to have Pride crossings in place at Queen’s Hospital, with one being installed at King George Hospital soon, to show we are welcoming place for LGBT+ staff and patients.