At UHBW, we exist to make a difference that matters to the lives we touch. We do this with full-hearted care, every day. 

But there is racism in UHBW, and it is not acceptable. 

We’re listening, and we know that we’re not getting it right for Black, Asian, Multiple Heritage, and other ethnically minoritised, global majority colleagues, patients and communities. We all have to do more and be better. Together, we have to become an anti-racist organisation. 

We all have to understand that ‘not being racist’ is not enough. To be anti-racist we must all be actively against racism in all its forms. This can’t be lip service. As an organisation of more than 15,000 talented, passionate people there is strength in our number. We all have a part to play. We have to change. It must be everything we stand for and what we do. 

To our Black, Asian, Multiple Heritage and other ethnically minoritised, global majority colleagues: we are sorry.  You should feel safe to be your whole self at work and valued and celebrated for it. The racism and ‘us and them’ culture you experience is not OK.  It is not your responsibility to fix racism at UHBW. But your voice and your lived experience matter and can help get this right.  And, when you speak up, we promise that you will be listened to and supported full-heartedly. We are so sorry that this hasn’t always been the case. It stops now. 

To our White colleagues: you must be allies. Question your assumptions, challenge your behaviour, and advocate for those who might not have the same privilege or power as you. We know you might be worried about doing or saying the wrong thing. But you have to be brave and speak up if you see or hear racism in any form. We need you to feel a responsibility to influence and make changes to level up wherever you find inequity. We promise you; you aren’t on your own. We’re with you, with support and guidance to match your full-hearted curiosity and compassion, always. 

To our leaders: from boards to wards, you must set the standard for anti-racism and be accountable for it. You have a responsibility to listen, support, and take appropriate action when you see or hear about racism at UHBW. Leadership needs to better reflect the diversity of our workforce, our patients and the communities we serve. The power you have must be used for positive change, not to continue the unfairness that exists.  

We’re just getting started.  

We need a plan. These are just words, and we need action. Using the experiences and feedback you’ve already shared with us, we will create a plan together for real, meaningful change. We have to get this right, so we will keep listening and involving you all, every step of the way. Because things have to change. 

We know this won’t be easy. Racism is complex, it can be between any ethnic group and exists alongside other forms of discrimination including sexism, ableism, homophobia and more. 

That’s why we are fully committed to creating a Pro-Equity culture in our Trust. We are building a place where everyone feels truly safe to be themselves so that together, we can make a difference that matters, for everyone. We’re all in. And it will be worth it, we promise. 

We are team UHBW. We are anti-racist. 

Targets:

• Meet the communication needs of our patients with a disability or sensory loss by delivering the Accessible Information Standard (AIS) implementation plan.
• Strengthen the quality of our translating and interpreting provision through the delivery of the Translation and Interpreting services communications plan and re-procurement of our external supplier together in partnership with Integrated Care System (ICS) providers.
• Develop a community outreach programme in collaboration with partners in the Voluntary and Community sector to better understand and improve the experience of marginalised communities. 
• Ensure that patients and carers from diverse groups can share their feedback with the Trust by improving the accessibility of our complaints and routine survey processes. 
• Create a new website for the Trust with the diverse communication needs of our population in mind, providing an accessible digital platform for health advice and key information on services. 

Targets:

• Work in partnership with the ICS to ensure an inclusive elective care recovery programme that priorities those groups who experience the poorest health outcomes.
• Collaborate with our ICS partners on shared health equity priorities informed by the Core20Plus5.
• Contribute to a system approach to completing the Equality Delivery System (EDS 2022) self-assessment. 

Targets:

• Establish a new governance structure for our work on tackling health inequalities that provides reporting on both quality and performance aspects to the Trust Board via appropriate committees.
• Harness the deployment of the Patient First approach (the Trust’s chosen approach to continuous improvement) as a crucial opportunity to integrate actions throughout the Trust that advance health equity for our patients and communities.
• Ensure that change is recognised as an opportunity to advance equality for patients by embedding the system Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment (EHIA) tool for key strategies, policies and as a fundamental part of our transformation programme. 
• Co-design an integrated patient and workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy 2025 – 2030 with our people, patients, carers and communities.
• Explore opportunities to align EDI resources that sit within the Experience of Care & Inclusion and Organisational Development teams to maximise expertise and add value in our approaches across patient and workforce EDI. 

Targets:

• Develop a dynamic training programme for EDI, working collaboratively across the patient and workforce agendas, that provides a range of learning opportunities for our people to give them the confidence and skills to meet the needs of our diverse communities. 
• Encourage a focus on health equity in service delivery by continuing to grow the EDI Action Learning Set which provides a platform for staff in each Trust Division to collaborate, be supportive and share learning with colleagues across UHBW on projects that tackle health inequalities. 
• Explore how the expertise that exists within staff networks and the EDI advocate programme could support the delivery of our equality objectives for our patients and communities.
• Provide a range of interactive patient EDI and health equity resources for our workforce via the Trust intranet.

Targets:

• Improve the completeness of ethnicity, disability status and communication needs recording on CareFlow (the Trust’s Electronic Patient Record system) to build an accurate profile of our patient population.
• Continue to develop a suite of patient EDI business intelligence / dashboards that supports monitoring in priority areas (i.e. segmentation of the waiting list by Indices of Multiple Deprivation and Protected Characteristic groups).
• Triangulate datasets on patient activity, access, experience, safety and outcomes to support priority setting and more informed decision making at Trust and Divisional level.
• Integrate patient EDI intelligence and insight into routine quality and performance reporting for Divisions, Senior Leadership Team, Quality & Outcomes Committee and Trust Board.
• Collaborate with partners in the ICS to enable data sharing so that information can be asked once and be available at all "touchpoints" in a patient's journey.