What are equality,diversity and human rights?
Equality is about creating a community in which everyone can have their say regardless of their protected characteristics which are age, disability, religion and belief, sex, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment, race and sexual orientation.
It is also about offering equal opportunities, enabling everyone to fulfil their potential regardless of who they are.
Diversity is about creating a working society that recognises, respects and values difference for the benefit of employees, the CCG as a whole and the public who use our services.
Human rights are basic rights to humane dignified treatment for all. These rights provide protection from discrimination, regardless of who we are, where we live or what we do. Representing all the things that are important to us, such as being able to choose how to live our life and being treated with dignity and respect, human rights provide a framework towards addressing inequality and promoting diversity.
Protected characteristic groups
We are committed to preventing discrimination, valuing diversity and achieving equality of opportunity in relation to the protected characteristics as set out by the Equality Act 2010:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment
- Marriage / Civil partnership
- Pregnancy / Maternity
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
- Race / Ethnicity
- Religion / Beliefs
- Carers
- AND Human rights
Promoting equality, diversity and human rights
Equality, Diversity and Human Rights play a vital part in the work of the NHS locally. Every member of the community is likely, at some point, to receive some kind of health and social care. NHS Sunderland CCG welcomes diversity in society, acknowledging that experiences, aspirations and needs are as individual as each patient.
As a commissioner of health services and as an employer, NHS Sunderland CCG values all people as individuals irrespective of their protected characteristics.
These web pages are one of the ways in which NHS Sunderland CCG communicates and promotes equality, values diversity and respects human rights in the commissioning of services for the local community.
NHS Sunderland CCG Equality and Diversity Group meetings
The CCG hold regular equality and diversity group meetings. We work with partners and people who have an interest in equality and diversity issues, and who are able to represent the views of different communities in Sunderland.
If you are interested in getting involved with the group, please email SUNCCG.sccg@nhs.net or call 0191 512 8458
Meeting our legal duty
As a public sector organisation, NHS Sunderland CCG embeds equality, diversity and human rights into all activities. To do this, we must demonstrate our commitment to:
- eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
- advancing equality of opportunity
- promoting good relations
This means that the CCG and its employees should:
- work towards removing or minimising disadvantages
- take steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people
- encourage people from protected groups to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low.
Our aim is to uphold these aims and to close the gap in health inequalities.
Equality objectives
Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) of the Equality Act 2010, NHS Sunderland CCG has a duty to identify and achieve equality objectives.
Equality information
Our equality information provides an overview of how we meet our public sector equality duty, both through commissioning and employment. We endeavour to work with our community interests and internal groups to prioritise our work which will produce better outcomes. This information is not exhaustive and there are key CCG documents which provide further information about our policies, objectives and actions. We have listed the main documents below and provided the links if anyone wishes to read them. They include:
NHS-Sunderland-CCG Constitution
NHS Sunderland CCG Equality Strategy 2016-2020 v1.0 – FINAL
NHS Sunderland CCG Commissioning Plan
NHS Sunderland CCG Prospectus
Sunderland’s Joint Strategic Needs
Sunderland’s Health Profile 2013
NHS England – Promoting Equality and Tackling Health Inequalities
