Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in social care isn’t just about compliance with legislation such as the Equality Act 2010. It is about delivering better outcomes for everyone.
We are still faced with glaring inequities in health and social care.
Did you know that:
- There remains an almost three-fold difference in maternal mortality rates amongst women from Black ethnic backgrounds compared to White women.
- People with a learning disability have a life expectancy 16 years less than their non disabled peers
These facts may be shocking, but they tell us that embracing equality, diversity and inclusion is, in addition, an ethical responsibility.
While these facts above are health outcomes, it is social care providers that most people are more frequently engaged with. We are the gateway.
What do we need to do? When people feel understood and respected, they are more likely to engage positively with care services. Similarly, a diverse and inclusive workforce tends to be more motivated, creative, and resilient.
The Care Quality Commission recognise this with the quality statement ‘We value diversity in our workforce. We work towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who work for us’.
So, what can we do to translate a quality statement into actions and measurable outcomes?
- Don’t abbreviate equality, diversity and inclusion to EDI, this risks trivialising a fundamental aspect of what we do. Equality, diversity and inclusion are related concepts, however they also each have a specific meaning and purpose. Using the acronym can imply that they do not. Equality in social care means ensuring that every individual has equal access to care and support, and is treated fairly regardless of their personal characteristics.
- Myth bust if needed. Equality does not mean treating everyone the same. It means giving everyone the support they need to achieve similar outcomes.
- Diversity recognises, values and respects the differences between individuals.
- Inclusion means creating an environment where everyone feels welcomed, respected, and able to fully
- Create an equality, diversity and inclusion champion.
- Ensure there is clear and visible leadership. Creating a champion does not mean senior managers step back. How will you support your equality, diversity and inclusion champion. What are the outcomes you will help them to achieve.
- Ensure equality, diversity, and anti-discrimination policies are living documents written for the primary audience; support workers, people who use your services and their loved ones. Ask yourself, would a support worker who first language is not English find this policy helpful?
- Subconscious bias is part of human nature. Don’t deny this, work with it. Use scenarios to help staff identify their tendencies and address them. Exploring positive bias initially can be a great way in. ‘Think of a characteristic in others that makes you feel positive when you first meet them’.
- Have regular conversations about inclusion. At team meetings ask ‘what have we done this month to make everyone feel welcome, respected and able to participate.’ And ‘how can we build on this?’.
- Regular conversations help inclusion it to become cultural. This in turn makes it easier for people to report potential discrimination or harassment.
- Make sure training has an impact. Before staff attend equality, diversity and inclusion training have a conversation to clarify expectations. After the training have a follow up conversation and set SMART goals to translate knowledge into capability. Use lived experience as in the Oliver McGowan training. Use feedback and other quality assurance findings from your service to inform training design and outcomes.
- Promote cultural competence, for example diet. Can your workforce access healthy culturally appropriate food and drinks when at work. This is a particular consideration for live in care.
And how can we use a team highly competent in equality, diversity and inclusion to improve outcomes for people. CQC assesses this through the quality statement Equity in experiences and outcomes. We actively seek out and listen to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes. We tailor the care, support and treatment in response to this.
- What is the demographic make up of the community that you serve. Do take up rates for your services reflect this?
- Ensure all aspects of a persons life and lifestyle are explored during assessments. Not proactively exploring potentially sensitive aspects places the onus on people and can create the impression that services hold discriminatory views. This in turn inhibits people from sharing fundamental aspects of who they are. Skills for Care found that ‘There is clear evidence that the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and questioning people (LGBTQ+) in later life are not being met. This is most evident in Care homes. Many report that they have no residents who are part of the LGBTQ plus community’. The Skills for Care LGBTQ-learning-framework is a great resource to develop competence in this area.
- Involve people in planning not just their own care, broaden this to design, delivery, and evaluation of services. A practical step to take after reading this article is review your own quality assurance policy. How are people meaningfully involved?
- In some of our other resources and training we talk about how to be not just good but outstanding. Peoples’ experiences are key. Find out not only if people feel safe to be their authentic self, find out of they feel confident and how you are promoting their confidence.
Our final piece of advice is to be mindful that promoting equality, diversity and inclusion is not a one-time task but an ongoing commitment. It lies at the heart of compassionate, effective and ethical social care.
By valuing each person’s individuality, challenging discrimination, and striving for fairness, the social care sector can build more inclusive environments where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. And you can help to address those glaring inequalities.
