Equality & Diversity

Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust  welcomes all staff, patients and their families.  We are committed to celebrating and understanding diversity and making our services accessible and easy for everyone to use.

Protected characteristic groups

In line with the Equality Act 2010, we recognise that people from any of the following groups (and more) may be affected by discrimination and we are committed to challenging discrimination and making our services welcoming and friendly to all:

  • Age
  • Disability
  • Gender reassignment (the transgender community)
  • Marriage and civil partnership
  • Pregnancy and maternity
  • Race
  • Religion and belief
  • Sex (gender e.g. male or female)
  • Sexual orientation (heterosexual, gay, etc)

Our staff Equality Forum (Quarterly meetings in Taunton)

Our Equality Forum is for staff who are passionate about equality issues and who want to help make the Trust more welcoming to all.  We listen to patients, families and staff to hear the experiences of all our patients and to make our services more understanding and easier to access for everyone.  If you would like more information, please contact us on equality@sompar.nhs.uk.

Diversity Training           

  • All Trust staff are required to complete Equality and Diversity e-learning.
  • All new members of staff joining the Trust receive equality and diversity training as part of their corporate induction programme.
  • The Trust Equality and Diversity Lead can run diversity training sessions for teams and individuals as needed.  Please contact us on equality@sompar.nhs.uk for more information.

Equality Delivery System            

The Equality Delivery System is a system that the NHS uses to ensure that everyone can access  health treatment and no one suffers from discrimination. The EDS not only covers people from Protected Characteristics Groups but also other people who may suffer stigma, such as homeless people.

You can find more information about the Equality Delivery System at NHS England.

The Trust reports annual on what it is doing to meet its obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and Public Sector Equality Duty.

Somerset Partnership’s Equality Objectives for 2016-2020 are

  1. We will deliver quality services that are right for patients, carers and families from all communities.
  2. We will treat everyone with dignity and respect, regardless of age, sex, race, disability, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and parenthood, religion and belief, sexual orientation or gender reassignment.
  3. We will create a welcoming and safe environment for everyone and challenge any discrimination, in our services or in our workforce.

 Our Equality Publications

Workforce Race Equality Standard

As part of the NHS action to ensure employees from black and ethnic minority (BME) backgrounds have equal access to career opportunities and receive fair treatment in the workplace, each Trust is required to complete and publish its progress against the new Workforce Race Equality Standard.

The move follows recent reports which have highlighted disparities in the number of BME people in senior leadership positions across the NHS, as well as lower levels of wellbeing amongst the BME population.

At Somerset Partnership we have set out our plans and published our Workforce Race Equality Standard progress here:

Contact us

For more information about Equality and Diversity, please contact:

Victoria Eld
Head of Communications
Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
2nd Floor, Mallard Court
Express Park, Bristol Road
Bridgwater TA6 4RN

Tel: 01278 432 036

Email: equality@sompar.nhs.uk