Equality, Diversity and Human

Rights Conference

The Business Benefits of Equality,

Human Rights based approaches

and Diversity

Post Conference Report

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Contents

Section 1 – Introduction ……….……….. 4

Section 2 – Conference Programme ………….………6

Section 3 – Key note messages …………….…….7

Section 4 – Workshop messages …………….……19

Section 5 – Participants Feedback ……………….....27

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Photos of Participants

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Section 1

Introduction

Section 1

Introduction

The Business Services Organisation Equality Unit hosted a half day conference on behalf of its partners (see logos on page 28). The theme of the conference was the Business Benefits of Equality, Diversity and Human Rights. There were three key note speakers focusing on the themes of equality, human rights and diversity. The conference was also addressed by a service user and staff member who outlined their experiences of equality in practice. Participants also had the opportunity to attend one pre-selected workshop, out of the three on offer. Theme one Equality This section was addressed by Deirdre Coyle, Health and Social Care Board, Kathy Maguire, Council for the Homeless and Amanda Stewart SpeakUp Youth Representative. They presented the Our Voice, Our Future, Our Say Project. This is a project that builds the capacity of homeless young people, or those at risk of becoming homeless, to enable them to engage service providers and advocate on behalf of themselves and their peers. The learning from this project has fed into the Commissioning process, making services more responsive, cost effective and better able to deliver for vulnerable people. Theme two Human Rights The keynote speaker for this theme was Alyson Kilpatrick BL. Alyson is a barrister who specialises in Human Rights. She is the independent advisor to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, advising and holding the police to account on human rights based approaches to policing.

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She outlined what a human rights based approach is, how this approach can benefit service provision and delivery, and why it is important for health and social care staff to think about Human Rights. She underlined the universal application of human rights to every human being. Theme three Diversity This session was addressed by Dianne Keith. Dianne is the Diversity and Inclusion Director for Lloyds Banking Group. She outlined how Lloyds deliver diversity and inclusion and the business benefits they derive from this.

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Section 2

Conference Programme

Section 2

Conference Programme

Conference Opening and Welcome

Maeve Hully, Chief Executive, Patient and Client Council Are you next of kin? Same sex couples and hospital services

Dr Richard O’Leary Keynote Speaker - Equality

Deirdre Coyle, Social Care, Health and Social Care Board Kathy Maguire, Council for the Homeless (CHNI) Amanda Stewart, CHNI Speak Up Youth Representative

Equality in practice

Pat Brolly Business Support Manager, Integrated Care, Health and Social Care Board

Keynote Speaker – Human Rights Based Approaches

Alyson Kilpatrick, BL Keynote Speaker – Diversity

Dianne Keith, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Lloyds Banking Group

Conference Close

Hugh McPoland, Director of Human Resources and Corporate Services, Business Services Organisation

Conference Workshops Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual &Trans Staff Forum: Public Health Agency Employing a person with learning disability: Patient & Client Council Hearty Lives Programme: Southern Health and Social Care Trust

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Section 3

Key messages

Key messages

Conference Opening and Welcome Maeve Hully, Chief Executive,

Patient and Client Council

Maeve thanked everyone for attending and welcomed them to the half day conference. She outlined that the participants would hear from a range of speakers covering equality, diversity and human rights. The speakers were from diverse backgrounds in the public and private sectors, both inside the health and social care family and outside. Maeve informed delegates that they would also hear from two people about their everyday experiences of equality and what this means in practice: Richard O’Leary, whose partner sadly passed away after an illness and a stay in hospital, and Pat Brolly. Pat works for the Health and Social Care Board and recently took part in the HSC Disability Placement Scheme, managing one of the placement participants. Maeve outlined the theme of the conference; the Business Benefits of Equality, Diversity and Human Rights. She outlined that we all know that in tough financial times, with fewer resources to deliver the same or more services, that there is a risk that we see equality and human rights as a luxury that can wait for better times. Maeve asserted that those of us that engage with equality and human rights every day, such as the right to participate and be heard, something that the Patient and Client Council is in the business of

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delivering, we all know that not only should equality and human rights not be seen as luxuries to be traded, but they should be seen as essential to getting our services right. Maeve concluded that this is essential because they help us design and deliver the best services. There are huge benefits derived from mainstreaming and practice equality, diversity and human rights within and throughout everything that we do, and our speakers today will demonstrate what this looks like in practice.

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Key messages

Are you next of kin? Same sex couples

and hospital services Dr Richard O’Leary

Richard and his partner were in a civil partnership. Richard’s partner sadly passed away after an illness and a stay in hospital. Richard outlined how this experience impacted his life and pointed to some possible lessons that he believed the Health and Social Care Service could learn. Richard experienced a number of problems whilst his partner was staying in hospital such as staff failing to recognise that he was next of kin. He constantly felt like he had to ‘come out’ to staff as gay as they failed to keep a note that he was next of kin. Richard also outlined how he and his partner, who were both practicing Christians, waited to be offered chaplaincy services, however these were never offered to them, Richard, believed that an assumption was made by the service that because they were in a same sex relationship, they wouldn’t want the service. Richard also explained his concerns about showing intimacy to his dying partner, such as kissing him good bye at night, concerned about the reaction of other patients or staff. Perceptions and assumptions by staff and service providers can cause difficulties for same sex attracted people, who feel pressure to continually ‘come out’ and explain themselves. Richard believes there is room for HSC, particularly front line professionals, to raise greater sexual orientation awareness, to make all patient experiences more positive.

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Key messages

Equality Deirdre Coyle, Social Care, HSCB

Kathy Maguire, Council for the Homeless Aaron Corbett & Sarah Wallace, CHNI Speak

Up

The need for young people’s participation was identified by the HSCB and Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) Regional Reference Group on Meeting the Accommodation and Support Needs of Vulnerable Young People. The “Our Voice, Our Future, Our Say” initiative was established to identify and engage young people aged 16-17 years old who have experienced, or who were at risk of, homelessness. The aim was to empower these young people, give them a voice, help them to articulate their experiences and outline their needs to those with responsibility for commissioning services for homeless or at risk young people. Council for the Homeless Northern Ireland in partnership with HSCB and NI Housing Executive took forward a programme to engage in a formal process of consulting with young people who had experience of homelessness. The trained youth peer representatives arranged, facilitated and took part in consultation events with young people across NI. Six sessions were held with the views and experiences of twenty nine hard to reach marginalised young people captured. These views were assessed by the peer mentors. Eight multimedia workshops were held across NI with twenty young people participating, all contributing to the development and production of a key messages resource.

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In addition to this a short film was developed aimed at policy makers which articulated the experiences of the young people and outlined in their words the services that they need. Significant work was undertaken to provide young people with the skills needed to ensure they could contribute to and benefit from meaningful engagement.

Targeted promotional activities delivered across the region to recruit and select peer representatives.

Action planning undertaken with peer representatives to develop group and individual goals.

Successful delivery of Peer Training, Capacity Building and Personal Development Programmes for peer representatives (20 young people).

Peer representatives afforded the opportunity and support to undertake youth achievement awards. Seven young people completed the Silver Award.

Listening to the views of those most impacted was central to this project and the HSCB and NI Housing Executive have acknowledged that for this service, young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness are experts in their own care.

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Key messages

Equality in practice Pat Brolly

Business Support Manager, Integrated Care, Health and Social Care Board

Pat Brolly outlined the experiences of his team and Ashling who was on the Disability Placement Scheme within his Unit. After meeting with Ashling, Pat arranged any required adjustments so that Ashling could begin, and get the most out of her 26 week placement. Some of the benefits for the organisation that Pat outlined were:

• Improved team dynamics. • Enthusiasm of Ashling stimulated other team members. • Cultivated additional team spirit.

• Increased the team’s understanding of ‘unseen’ disabilities.

Some of the benefits of the scheme to Ashling were:

Structure to the day.

Experience in a working environment.

Increased confidence and self-esteem.

Network of contacts.

Additional skills through attending courses.

Positive impact on Mental Health. Ashling has since gained paid employment. She has attributed part of her success in doing so to undertaking the work placement. Pat said that he hoped the scheme would continue and recommended that managers consider offering a placement as the benefits for all involved had been huge.

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Key messages

Human Rights Approaches Alyson Kilpatrick, BL

Alyson gave an overview of the Human Rights Framework that the Police Service of Northern Ireland works within and how they have introduced a Human Rights based approach to policing. She outlined the provisions of the Human Rights Act that are relevant to service provision and emphasised that Human Rights are for everyone; they are not earned, we all have them by virtue of being a human being. They are there to protect us and have been used by the police service and others to improve services. Alyson spoke about how empathy was important to the successful implementation of human rights based approaches. Service providers should view the service user and think about how they would want their own family member to be treated; this approach improves the implementation of human rights. Alyson gave a number of health care examples of human rights based approaches.

The State Hospital, located in Lanarkshire, is the high security forensic mental health hospital for Scotland and Northern Ireland. It provides psychiatric care in conditions of high security, for people with mental illness who are compulsorily detained under mental health or criminal law. Putting human rights at the centre of policies and practices can be

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successful in achieving a transformational cultural change. After a critical report by the Mental Welfare Commission in 2000, the State Hospital conducted a fundamental examination of its human rights practice. A decision was taken to use the Human Rights Act as a vehicle for cultural change, to put the human rights of everyone – staff, patients, carers and family members – at the heart of The State Hospital’s services. The Scottish Human Rights Commission’s (SHRC) 2009 independent evaluation, “Human Rights in a Health Care Setting: Making it Work” highlighted how this prompted The State Hospital to move from being an institution where rights were largely “left at the door”, towards a more positive and constructive atmosphere with mutual respect between staff and patients. It found that increased participation of patients in decision making had resulted in better staff and patient engagement, increased work-related satisfaction amongst staff, and increased satisfaction amongst patients regarding their care and treatment.

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Key messages

Diversity Dianne Keith, Director of Diversity and

Inclusion, Lloyds Banking Group

Dianne gave an overview of the Diversity and Inclusion work being undertaken in Lloyds Banking Group. Lloyds is engaged in a broad and ambitious range of diversity initiatives, which is all encapsulated in their Diversity Strategy and Governance Framework. Dianne outlined that Lloyds commitments are to:

1. Have deep and lasting customer relationships built on an understanding of the needs of their diverse customer base, with accessible products, services and branding.

2. Have their workforce more closely reflective of the diversity of our customer base and the external labour market.

3. Be an employer of choice for diverse talent, with an inclusive workplace where colleagues can be themselves and succeed on merit.

4. Ensure their leaders and colleagues understand and value difference, and demonstrably promote inclusion.

5. Ensure their community activities reflect the diversity of their customer base.

To ensure that their ambitious commitments are delivered through their action plan, Lloyds have a robust accountability structure, with divisional and functional work streams, feeding into a Diversity and Inclusion Operating Committee, which also has representation for the 4 Lloyds staff networks (Black and Minority Ethnic, Women, Disability and LGB&T). This Committee feeds into the Diversity and Inclusion Forum which has representation from various directors, and this Forum reports

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directly to the Chief Executive. Dianne outlined some of the recognition that Lloyds Banking Group have received for their Diversity and Inclusion work, as well as some of their achievements.

Breaking the mould overall award 2014

4 disability-smart awards

Women of the future best corporate 2014

Data on ethnicity updated by 4,000 colleagues since June

Awarded gold standard by business disability forum 2014

Diversity & Inclusion training delivered to 8,500 colleagues to date

Top 30 employer for working families

Diversity leadership programmes delivered to 300 colleagues

Top private sector employer for LGBT people

15,000 members of colleague networks

Times top 50 employer for women

Role models campaign launched

Founder of the Agile Future Forum

Diversity & Inclusion score in colleague survey +6 above UK high-performing norm

Dianne outlined that Lloyds recognise the importance of this work, which has been shown to improve staff experiences and reduce staff grievances and sick leave, as well as improve and enhance services and the experiences of customers.

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Key messages

Conference Close Hugh McPoland, Director of Human Resources and Corporate Services,

Business Services Organisation

Hugh McPoland closed the conference, thanked everyone for attending and hoped that they found the conference informative and useful. He acknowledged that the speakers were from a diverse range of backgrounds in the public and private sectors, both inside the health and social care family and outside, and referenced important learning for Health and Social Care. Hugh also gave a special thank you and acknowledgment for the wonderful and moving performance from Arts Care. In closing, Hugh outlined the importance of the equality and diversity agenda to HSC, acknowledging the important role it has to play in driving a progressive and ambitious agenda for HSC in terms of enhancing staff experiences whilst in work, but crucially, for providing a first class health and social care service to everyone in Northern Ireland.

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PERFORMANCE

ArtsCare Performance

The conference was closed with a performance by Arts Care; Paddy and Carmel performed a dance which told the story of living with an acquired brain injury. Arts Care is Northern Ireland’s leading Arts in Health organisation with a significant international reputation and influence in Best Arts in Health Practice. The organisation was initiated in 1991 by the Department of Health and Public Safety with the sole purpose of placing professional artists across different disciplines at the heart of healthcare including frontline services, to enhance and transform service users, their families, staff and visitors’ experience of healthcare services and the healthcare environment.

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Section 4

Workshop messages

Section 4

Workshop messages

Workshop One This workshop was delivered by Paul Kavanagh from the Public Health Agency. Its focus was on the LGB&T HSC Staff Forum.

Paul Kavanagh outlined the context in which the LGB&T HSC Staff Support Network was established. With 1 in 4 LGB people concealing their sexual orientation and 1 in 5 reporting workplace bullying, there was a need identified to support LGB&T staff. The Mission Statement of the Forum is: “A Forum to provide a safe and welcoming space for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people working within health and social care, create an inclusive environment, and improve wellbeing.” Paul outlined some key achievements to date

Online Survey with staff working across all HSC settings. Workshops facilitated with LGB&T Staff. First meeting of Forum held June 2011. Confidential email address established. 115 members on data base 2012, 2013 & 2014 PRIDE events in Belfast, Derry and Newry. LGB&T E-Learning pilot. Pilot of Survey Questionnaire. Hospital Stalls Outburst Festival sponsorship

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The Forum has created

an opportunity to be heard an opportunity for LGB&T staff to know they are supported by

organisations an opportunity to access peer support for the first time on a grand

scale an opportunity to discuss issues around being a member of a

minority group and the many and varied experiences within this minority group

an opportunity for LGB&T employees to further highlight the HSC Organisations’ responsibilities to service users of the same minority group.

an opportunity for LGB&T employees to bring insights, as service users, to the wider discussion around diversity

LGB&T employees, because of the Staff Forum, have the opportunity to be involved in creating an inclusive working environment for all who perceive themselves to be contextually different within HSC Organisations

A range of issues came up in the group discussion, with audience members discussing a general ignorance around LGB&T issues even though there are potentially approximately 2700 LGB&T employees in HSC. It was acknowledged that it was a positive measure to set up the Staff Forum within HSCNI to help with concerns and issues for LGBT staff. Participants outlined that it was their view that the whole HSC sector would benefit from strong campaigns by the Forum, that the bigger HSC organisations should become more aware of LGB&T issues and the Forum and education and awareness of LGB&T needs should be mainstreamed.

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Section 4

Workshop messages

Workshop two

This workshop was delivered by Sean Brown and Gerard McWilliams from the Patient and Client Council. Its focus was on the recruitment of a person with a learning disability.

Introducing the workshop, Sean Brown, Head of Development and Corporate Services, Patient and Client Council (PCC) described the role of the PCC and the work undertaken with patients and clients. He said the Patient and Client Council is a health and social care organisation which provides an ‘independent voice’ for people across Northern Ireland on health and social care issues. The Council’s Engagement Team attends around 500 events during the year to meet people, explain its work and also hear their concerns and views on health and social care. This engagement includes specific projects to hear from patients and carers on mental health and learning disability issues. Continuing, he said when speaking with service users one of the key issues highlighted to the Patient and Client Council were the barriers that exist in communication. To help address this issue the Council identified the benefit to the Engagement Team of employing someone with a Learning Disability to provide a more informed and empathetic perspective on its work. It was envisaged that this person would be in a good position to engage with other people with learning disabilities, as well as helping team members develop how they engage more effectively with people who have proven to be ‘hard to reach’ and also how the Patient and Client Council conducts its wider activities. He shared the experience of the Patient and Client Council in recruiting a Personal and Public Involvement Officer. As there were no similar examples in health and social care or in the Community and Voluntary

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sector, the Patient and Client Council spoke to a number of interested parties to secure agreement to do things differently in taking forward the recruitment process. During discussions the PCC received real commitment to the initiative and support in making it work. A job description was prepared for the position and duties included: working on projects; being creative in ways to communicate with people with a learning disability; working with people and groups and encouraging them to share their views and also communicating and helping to produce easy read documents. The Patient and Client Council also described what it was looking for in the person who would take on this role and a short easy to understand application form was developed for completion. When advertising the position the Patient and Client Council liaised with the Department of Employment and Learning and various community groups in taking forward the selection and interview process. The interview panel included a person with a learning disability to quality assure the process, not as a panel member. Questions were similar to that of traditional interviews but presented in a different way at the interview. Following the interview the panel appointed Gerard McWilliams as the Personal and Public Involvement Officer. Gerard is currently working as a team member within the Patient and Client Council. Sean referred to the success of the appointment to date and he shared with the workshop some feedback received following on of the PCC engagement events attended by Gerard.

‘Last night I was at an event where one of your colleagues, Gerard McWilliams, shared the work of the PCC. I have been attending seminars, events etc. for the past fourteen years and have to say I found Gerard’s presentation one of the best I have ever attended. Gerard was extremely knowledgeable about your organisation and how patients can access information’.

At this point in the workshop Sean introduced Gerard McWilliams and invited him to share his experience of the recruitment process and of undertaking the role. Gerard described his background from his early years into adulthood and how he had progressed through supported programmes until his decision to work with programmes involving Children and Young persons and later in community work. He explained that he was

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approached by his employment support worker regarding the opportunity within the Patient and Client Council; following discussions with his support worker he completed the application form with the assistance of his support worker and was shortlisted for interview. Gerard shared his experience of the interview. He said there was an opportunity for the candidate to be accompanied by their support worker to the interview. The interview questions were presented on a screen and the individual was given the necessary time to consider and respond to the questions. He said he was content with the interview process and delighted when he heard that he had been successful and offered the position. He added that a mentor was identified to support him in his role and the PCC made all reasonable adjustments at work in terms of computer and software. Gerard has been attending many Engagement Events on behalf of the PCC involving Health and Social Care organisations and Community and Voluntary sector organisations. His overall role is to give patients, clients and carers their voice on health and social care issues affecting them. Gerard thanked participants for the opportunity to share with them his experience to date. Concluding the presentation, Sean outlined the learning to the PCC from the initiative as providing a perspective and valuing diversity. He said while it is not easy, it can be done, the model has been developed and is available to everyone. Workshop participants thanked Sean and Gerard for their presentations, which they said were very inspirational.

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Section 4

Workshop messages

Workshop three This workshop was delivered by Brenda Toal and Jane Ferguson from the Southern Health and Social Care Trust. Its focus was on the Hearty Lives programme

A programme aimed at Travellers and minority ethnic communities in the Southern Area.

Q – Did the BME and Irish Traveller communities come together during the project? A – Both communities undertook separate lifestyle change programmes; service was brought to them in their community where they were happiest to be involved. Both communities were given advice on how to access services at the right point, eg. GP rather than A&E. The Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) community was given advice on the HSC, the services available, their structures and how to access services. Q – Were Asylum seekers contacted? A – Various ethnic groups were contacted in a variety of ways, for example, Chinese community through the CIP (Chinese initiative programme) and Polish through two Saturday schools. The Programme also went into local factories and organisations that employ people from ethnic minority groups. Q – How sustainable is this programme, what on-going source of funding is available?

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A – The Programme’s funding ends in March 2016 – it is unlikely the British Heart Foundation will be able to continue funding beyond this date, and securing funding elsewhere will be difficult in the current climate. Approaches have been made to the local HSC commissioning group, looking at mainstreaming service and plans to maintain relationships and links made. Two health visitors have been employed, dedicated to working with the Irish Travellers and BME communities. Also the project staff have been working with midwives to increase their skills in working with both communities. Mid-term evaluation of the project has just been completed and will help inform discussions about future funding. Q – Human rights is good for business; how have Human Rights influenced businesses to carry on some of this work? A – Health champions in some businesses have been identified to pass on heart healthy messages, take things further and influence employers to provide healthy heart activities. Q – What about mental health issues? A – These have been touched on and we have signposted people to organisations which can help. The Programme’s focus is heart health but we work closely with Public Health Agency (PHA) colleagues, eg. Breastfeeding help within Irish Traveller community. The PHA has funded a health trainer for one year to work with Irish Traveller community. Q – Was lack of trust a barrier? A – It takes time. There is a need to meet people in their own environment, face to face, as emails and phones do not work. In the past 6 months we have started going into workplaces. There is a need to understand places people come from and what they’ve experienced. It has been a steep learning curve, eg. some BME service users used to get insulin posted from home as they either didn’t realise service was available in Northern Ireland or did not trust it or just felt isolated. Some BME people also fly home for health treatment (eg. dental) due to long waiting lists or not having right information about what is available and how to access services. Q – How do we get message out in the system that people are not here

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just to access our health services? A – People flying home for health services is not anecdotal, many do this rather than access services in NI. Q – How do we integrate this programme? A – This will come with training of other health professionals, eg. Doctors and nurses. Need to include a component on the needs of BME and Irish Travellers within basic training. Q – What about the older BME community, how are we preparing for increase in this? A – Training for frontline staff.Older members talk through their children as they have little or no English, but as the young community become older they will have better skills and understanding. However it is the older BME that need to be looked at now. Q – What lessons have been learned? A – We tend to impose our traditional model of care on others. We need to find new ways, build peer support and navigators starting to learn through work with BME. Q – What has been the feedback from those using the care/health activities? What evaluation has been done that could be used to inform how the service can continue? A – External/independent assessor (Jane Turnbull) has just finished a mid-year evaluation and will conduct full end year assessment. Three focus groups were held - BME, female Irish Traveller and male Irish Traveller, to obtain their feedback, discuss what’s worked and what hasn’t, and what they would like to see happen in the final year of programme. An individual health record for everyone involved in the programme and lifestyle change activities has been kept and will be used for comparison at the end of the year.

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Section 5

Participants Feedback

Section 5

Participants Feedback

Many diverse groups extremely well represented. All

speakers fantastic, Arts Care dance were brilliant.

Hearing different examples of diversity, equality and

human rights. Hearing from different organisations, their

views and policies on Human Rights & Equality was

excellent.

The word 'humbling' was used several times today. To

Sarah, Glenn Richard and Paddy - very powerful. The pitch

of the Human Rights presentation was helpful. Made it

useful and real, thank you.

Excellent day, plenty of networking opportunities.

Excellent conference, reinforced for me the importance of

rights equality and respect. I'm going away with a

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renewed spirit to continue to integrate all of this into my

practice.

Very well organised and informative.

It was very informative and I am still processing what I

heard and how this can be used applied in my work. I

achieved my objectives and learnt more than expected.

Today was a great education. I am so familiar with the

equality legislation and aspirational business case for

diversity but hearing how that translated to real life was

very powerful. It made it real and was very inspiring. Very

useful, very energetic.

Would love to hear more 'real stories' more regularly!

I truly enjoyed and was motivated and refreshed to hear

about what equality means in practice. Like everyone, you

attend events that so often are delivering 'same old

message'. The speakers were all excellent, presenting

personal but often touchy but impactful experiences. I am

really motivated to continue the pursuit of equality.

Congratulations on an excellent conference.

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