Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion | The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

An exciting opportunity has arisen for Head of EDI to support the on-going and continuous delivery against the EDI agenda.
Taking a lead role in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), you will develop the EDI framework and approach to support the Trust’s commitment to foster an inclusive working environment that promotes equality of opportunity and diversity for all staff, members. You will support all of our staff, strategic partners and service users (including patients and carers) that visit Trust premises or who otherwise provide or access the Trust’s services. You will ensure there is a clear vision with specific goals to support our Inclusion Framework and that structures are in place to monitor and evaluate the framework to ensure that it remains aligned with the Trust’s values and is consistent with wider NHS expectations. This will require working closely with the patient experience team.
You will project manage the organisation’s Inclusion Framework and Equality Delivery System, Workforce Race Equality Standard and Workforce Disability Equality Standard action plans and to work towards continually progressing the organisation further forward with this agenda.
Working with the Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development and Associate Director of People – Transformation and Culture, you will influence change in policies, practices and provision that disproportionately disadvantage people according to their sex, race, religion or belief, disability or any other protected characteristics and produce and present information on the profile of staff, the impact of change and on the activities of the programme.
You will develop, implement and oversee strategies to:
• Ensure that the Trust is able to meet and responds to the diverse needs of the community it serves.
• Be responsible for the creation and delivery of an action plan relating to EDI in conjunction with the EDI Steering Group.
• Seek out best practice on policy and service delivery inside and outside of the sector and formulate appropriate policy responses to sector changes.
• Provide regular reports on the delivery of the action plan to relevant bodies.
The Royal Wolverhampton Trust is one of the largest trusts in the West Midlands, providing primary, acute and community services. We are incredibly proud of the diversity of our staff and the communities we serve. We are building a workforce that can help us to fulfil our values, improve the quality of care for patients, and solve the healthcare problems of tomorrow.
We're passionate about the value that diversity of thinking and lived experience brings, and they bring us to become a learning organisation and a leader in delivering compassionate care for our patients.
We are delighted to be rated 'Good' by CQC. We have received numerous awards, including the Nursing Times 'Best Diversity and Inclusion Practice' and 'Best UK Employer of the Year' for Nursing staff in 2020.
The Trust is a supportive working environment, committed to creating flexible working arrangements that suit your needs and, as such, will consider all requests for applicants that wish to work flexibly.
Working proactively with the Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development and Associate Director of People – Transformation and Culture and with key people within the Trust (and externally where appropriate) to raise questions about policies, practices and provisions and to influence and support changes to them as appropriate
Project manage the organisation’s Inclusion Framework, Workforce Race Equality Scheme (WRES), Workforce Disability Equality Scheme (WDES) and Equality Delivery System (EDS) action plans; input into the Inclusion Framework and progress the organisation further forward with this agenda. Co-ordinate, lead and monitor progress against the action plans for WRES, WDES and EDS and support applications for awards, attend network meetings etc.
Ensure arrangements are made for the meetings of relevant committees, including the selection of meeting dates, room-bookings, etc and the drafting and distribution of meetings agendas, papers and minutes.
Use social science research and other methods to develop feedback mechanisms and analyse qualitative diversity data.
Gather and analyse diversity data from across the organisation, e.g. staff demographic data, recruitment data, committee data, invited speakers, awards etc. and prepare these for presentation.
To collate, analyse and report on data to inform future Equality and Diversity actions and to ensure compliance with legal requirements.
To play the lead role in the development of the Inclusion Framework and create supporting action plans.
To review and develop the Trust’s approach to the governance and management of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in order to enable to delivery of agreed actions.
To act as the lead point of contact for issues relating to equality and diversity in the workplace, providing advice, support and guidance to staff, manager and colleagues in this area.
To maintain a thorough knowledge of equalities legislation and practice and develop strategies and measures to ensure compliance with statutory requirements and best practice.
To act as critical friend in relation to existing and developing HR and other processes, procedures and policies to ensure that they are appropriate for the Trust, that Diversity and equality issues are embedded at all stages; and that they comply with the requirements or charter schemes such as Disability Confident, Stonewall Index and Mindful Employer.
To develop and maintain internal and external relationships with staff and stakeholders in relation to moving forward the Trust’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion agenda including leading and participating in relevant conferences, employer networks, forums, committees and steering groups.
To collaborate with the Head of Resourcing to ensure that our recruitment policy and process support our Inclusion Framework.
To play a proactive role in encouraging cross institution awareness of Equality and diversity issues, working with the communications team to raise the profile of the Inclusion Framework. This will include developing a communications plan.
To support development of a programme of events that support equality, Diversity and Inclusion, including planning and delivery of workshops and training sessions.
To further develop a Trust wide approach to assessing equality impact and seek to embed these in key policy areas.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
• Knowledge of EDI issues affecting the healthcare or similar environments
• Knowledge of how to develop and implement cultural change programmes
• Strong project management skills
• Able to liaise and influence a wide range of people and build effective working relationships quickly
• Strong communication skills both oral and written
• Ability to produce reliable and comprehensive data
• Experience of social science research methods
• Ability to respond to changes in workload at short notice
• Experience of Equality and diversity issues
• Experience of ensuring compliance with equality and diversity legislation
• Educated to a Masters (or equivalent) level in a social science based subject
• The ability to demonstrate continuous professional development
COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS
Internally
Associate Director of People – Transformation and ~Culture
Heads of HR
Director of Human Resources and OD
Group Chief People Officer
Executive Directors
Divisional Directors
HR Business Partners
Head of Patient Experience
Head of Resourcing and Workforce Systems
Freedom to Speak Up Guardian
Trade Unions
Externally
ICB Colleagues
Inclusion Colleagues
Representatives from Community Groups
This advert closes on Sunday 10 Mar 2024