Diversity Leaders Say 'time For Equality To Take Centre Stage', UK

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Conferences
Article Date: 22 Oct 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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Nearly one hundred and fifty delegates attended Guy's and St Thomas' annual diversity conference last week - one of the leading events of its kind in the NHS.

This was the third year of the conference and keynote speakers included former Cabinet Minister and MP Tony Benn, Surinder Sharma, the Department of Health's Director of Equality and Human Rights, and Mike Franklin, Commissioner of the IndependentPolice Complaints Commission (IPCC), and Non-Executive Director at the Trust.

This event built on the success of previous years and focussed on recognising the importance of values in the workplace and celebrating the 60th anniversary of the NHS.

Surinder Sharma, who has worked at the Department of Health since 2004, said it was sad that inequalities remained in the NHS, for example the fact that people with learning difficulties have significantly lower life expectancy. Equally on a structural level there were still only four Primary Care Trust Chief Executives from ethnic minorities.

"It is time to convert the warm words that we have heard for so many years into practical action," said Mr Sharma. "Many trusts are still not complying with their legal duties on equality. The time has arrived when this issue needs to be centre stage. This isn't the responsibility of human resources alone; it is boards' responsibility; it is everyone's responsibility."

Tony Benn, the longest serving MP in the history of the Labour Party, reflected on how the creation of the NHS had been a major step forward in tackling health inequality, as prior to 1948 healthcare had been the preserve of the wealthy.

Other speakers included Professor Carol Baxter, Head of Equality & Diversity at NHS Employers, Joan Sadler, the Department of Health's National Director of Patient & Public Involvement, John James, Programme Consultant for the Department of Health, and Ted Baker, Medical Director for Guy's and St Thomas'.

Swarnjit Singh, Equality & Diversity manager at Guy's and St Thomas', organised the event and was delighted with its success. He said: "Every year this conference goes from strength to strength and I think delegates would have gone away from here both challenged and enthused to deliver a higher performance on equality and diversity in the NHS."

Guy's and St Thomas' provides around ¾ million patient contacts in acute and specialist hospital services every year. As one of the biggest NHS Trusts in the UK, it employs over 9,000 staff. The Trust works in partnership with the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Biomedical Sciences of King's College London and other Higher Education Institutes to deliver high quality education and research.

Guy's and St Thomas'

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are working together to create a world-leading Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC). Our AHSC brings together an unrivalled range and depth of clinical and research expertise, spanning both physical and mental health. Our combined strengths will drive improvements in care for patients, allowing them to benefit from breakthroughs in medical science and receive leading edge treatment at the earliest possible opportunity.

King's College London

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