Health and social care organisations make Stonewall’s top 100 list

An NHS trust that has worked alongside the RCN to improve equality has been named as one of Britain’s most inclusive employers by the charity Stonewall.

For the second year running, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a star performer in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) charity’s annual top 100 inclusive employer list, compiled from submissions to its Workplace Equality Index.

In partnership with the RCN, the trust has developed a trans awareness training package that has been used by healthcare organisations worldwide.

Star performers

The trust is one of eight elite organisations that hold star performer status, meaning they have ‘consistently excelled and gone above and beyond in demonstrating their commitment to LGBT inclusion at work’.

Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust associate director of equality and diversity Catherine Conchar said: ‘We have a responsibility to provide a service to all of our diverse communities, from a service provision point of view, and to achieve that it’s vital that our workforce reflects and represents those communities.’

Seven health and social care organisations were named in Stonewall’s top 100 employers list, with St Andrew’s Healthcare the top-performing employer in the health and social care sector. The organisation, which delivers mental health services in Northampton, Birmingham, Essex and Nottinghamshire, was also on the top 100 list last year.

A total of 439 organisations made submissions to the charity for inclusion on the list, and more than 92,000 staff from across these organisations took part in an anonymous survey.

Disclosure

The survey revealed that one in eight LGBT people would not feel comfortable disclosing their sexual orientation to managers or senior colleagues and one in five trans employees would not feel comfortable disclosing their gender identity to any colleagues.

The organisations were required to demonstrate their expertise in ten areas of employment policy and practice.

St Andrew’s Healthcare director of human resources Martin Kersey said: ‘It’s fantastic that so many employers are now embracing their responsibilities to improve equality across a wide range of industries, and we’re proud to be among them.’

Stonewall’s health and social care sector expert, Catherine Somerville, said she hoped the health and social care providers on the list would continue to influence other organisations to make their workplaces more inclusive.

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