Diversity and Inclusion Award

Community Health Partnerships

Community Health Partnerships (CHP) aims to put its buildings at the heart of the communities it serves. We recognise that everyone’s needs are different, and that each of our sites should be easily accessible and accommodate everyone regardless of an individual’s circumstance.

In the UK today there are over 14 million registered disabled people, and it’s estimated 45% of people aged 65+ have a disability. For many of these people the primary care estate, such as our own at CHP is their gateway to help and assistance.

Within the NHS we know that anxiety is a key cause of patients failing to attend their medical appointment, for an individual who may have a disability the additional worry of whether the premises is suitable for their needs can add an extra layer of stress and anxiety. Which is why, and aligning to one of CHP’s core Business Objectives 2021/22, in supporting and promotion of a diverse and inclusive healthcare estate, we have partnered with AccessAble, the UK’s leading provider of detailed disabled-access information.

The AccessAble project, led by Simon Waters and supported by a project team was something very close to the project teams’ heart, in championing inclusivity issues across the public health estate.
The teams drive and commitment was instrumental in the successful delivery, and as a result each and every one of CHP’s sites which equate to 5% of the NHS property portfolio, have access to a free Access Guide which can be found online on CHP’s website.

The aim of these guides is to provide as much accessibility information as possible to someone who might need additional support when visiting somewhere new.

By working with the team at AccessAble over several months, the team were able to survey and draw up customised guides which cover everything from disabled parking facilities and hearing loops, to walking distances and accessible toilets. The guides are 100% facts, figures and are accompanied with up-to-date photographs which patients, staff and visitors can view and prep for ahead of each visit.

To further support our commitment and really bring to life the everyday struggles of those with a disability, the project team worked with a number of Disability Ambassadors to pull together a series of animated short stop-motion videos. These videos capture real experiences from those with a disability when visiting somewhere new and the benefits an Access Guide brings. To hear this first-hand, enabled CHP to ensure the right information was being captured in delivering the guides.
Once the Access Guides were finalised, the project team ensured these were filtered down to our building users. This involved extensive engagement to CHP’s internal and external audiences. As a result, user engagement for the guides has already been a huge success.

These guides are a big step in the right direction in creating an inclusive healthcare estate for all.

D&I Initiatives – Transforming Bouygues E&S and Benefitting Healthcare Clients

With the global pandemic impacting life as we knew it in March 2020, Bouygues Energies & Services remained steadfast in their commitment to Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). In times of uncertainty, the company took a proactive approach to this key value and launched a new D&I strategy.

The strategy was unveiled at a launch event, themed “Be Yourself”, attended by 200 colleagues from across the UK. We set out a D&I Charter including the critical areas we needed to focus on. The Charter was signed as a commitment by the business leaders at the event.

Following the event, a D&I committee was created, bringing together all diversity networks, chaired by our HR director, and sponsored by a representative of the executive committee. A governance map was agreed and a strategy was developed to give D&I the highest profile, with each principle allocated specific actions.

Over the last two years, there has been a significant step-change in the profile and engagement of employees on D&I within our business; this in turn, has benefitted those teams working for and within the healthcare environment.

We increased the number of our diversity networks from three (one each for women, disability and LGBTQIA+) to five, adding one for race & ethnicity and parents & carers. Each network has an executive sponsor, a budget, and an active calendar of events with high participation. Some of our key achievements include the launch of an anti-bullying campaign called ‘Speak Up’ with an external hotline, a Disability Confident Employer status and the creation of site-based trained FIR Ambassadors.

This year, we held a D&I Week, themed “Be the Change” comprising online events. This involved sharing updates on our D&I strategy and our vision for the future and our allyship guide, which outlines how we can support underrepresented or disadvantaged groups to reach their full potential. Over 1,000 individuals attended at least one event.

The different topics provided our employees with a lot of food for thought. Paul Cadman, HR Director for Bouygues Energies & Services said: ‘Diversity and Inclusion is one of Bouygues E&S’ core values. We recognise the pivotal role it plays in promoting engagement, fairness, and equality. Encouraging people to be themselves is also vital for attracting talent into the business during the skills shortage. Through our strategic approach and variety of fantastic initiatives, we continue to uphold our commitment to maintaining an open and inclusive workplace.”

Outcomes:
• Our D&I network continues to raise awareness and host various themed events: training is key for the success of the initiatives and our internal training platform hosts several modules such as Unconscious Bias, EDI in the workplace, Harassment and Bullying at Work and Menopause etc.
• We now have 65 fully trained FIR Ambassadors. We are supporting our ambassadors to ascertain high levels of knowledge to promote further a diverse and inclusive culture – healthcare sites are benefitting from this.
• We developed “Our Girls Believe Academy” initiative aimed at inspiring younger generations to consider STEM subjects and a career in the built environment industry

Land and Property Team

Our nomination for our new Diversity and Inclusion Award is the Land and Property Team, Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. As a community trust we deliver over 100 clinical services, out in people’s homes and at, health centres and clinics. We provide services for adults, children, people with learning disabilities, those with rehabilitation needs and dental services.

The Land and Property Team are specialists in Asset Management services and a key part of the role is the Accommodation Request Programme. In delivering the Accommodation Request Programme we utilise a patient and localities-based approach. Working to clinical strategy, we match accommodation and relocation requests to property that is fit for purpose, in the right locations, to serve the current and future needs of our diverse population in line with Trust planned activity.

Birmingham has a diverse population, and we make a genuine difference in equality, diversity, and inclusion within the healthcare environment; by locating and providing our community-based services to the North, South, East, West and Central Birmingham, and Solihull Localities. In doing this we are wholly inclusive in providing clinical services throughout the region.

We utilise best care, health communities’ principles that are embedded at Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS FT. We make evidenced and value-based decisions to ensure our estate aligns with clinical strategy. Central to this is our Estates Stakeholder Group which includes Patient Engagement, Divisional representation, Risk Management, Health and Safety, IT, Telecoms, Compliance, Emergency Planning, and IPC. Stakeholders are consulted and advise from different viewpoints, our collaborative approach realises service efficiencies, time and cost improvements, promotion of agile working, implementation of sustainable building solutions and compliance.

All accommodation requests are delivered from initial request and feasibility through to site relocation. Highlights of the programme between the May 2021 – May 2022 period are relocations successfully delivered for services including, Musculoskeletal, Children’s and Families Therapies, Health Visiting, Learning Disabilities, Early Intervention Communities Teams, Falls Prevention, Medicines Management, Personal Protective Equipment, Dental, Vaccination and Immunisation, Community Stroke Services. All facilitating locality based clinical delivery across BSol ICS STP localities.

Looking to the future, we have planned programme which includes localities-based modelling and relocations for Community Dental, Children’s and Families Central Booking Service, Intravenous Infusion Team, District Nursing and Integrated Care, School Nurses, Immunisation, Neurological, Speech and Language Therapy and much more.

To deliver the Accommodation Request Programme we work with NHS trusts, Local Authorities, Schools, Community Health Partnerships, NHS Property Services, and the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System partners. We promote the sharing of information with the aim of better utilising the estate as a collective resource for communities.

The Land and Property Team are highly dedicated, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and skilled team working across the Trusts extensive Freehold and Leasehold property portfolio. We are proud to deliver asset solutions that are locally driven, pathway driven, and inclusive, to facilitate the delivery of clinical services to all of our community.

Making Room for Dignity Project

National investment of £80m has been allocated for the development of new mental health facilities across Derbyshire, which we have invested in new hospital and refurbishment plans to eradicate dormitory style accommodation:

-Northern Derbyshire Acute: 54-bed new build
-Southern Derbyshire Acute: 54-bed new build
-Northern Derbyshire Older Adults: 12-bed relocation
-Radbourne Unit Acute: 34-bed refurbishment
-Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit: 14-bed new build
-Acute Plus: 8-bed refurbishment of Audrey House

The team committed to diversity and inclusivity from the outset of the programme with the inclusion of an ‘expert by experience’ as the project support officer, who offers experiences as both a person with a disability and experience of having a mental illness, using Trust services. This post enabled delivery of service user input and scrutiny via links with newly created service user/carer and peer support reference groups which provided the projects with service user ownership, transparency and integrity.

These groups directly influenced the modelling of the services and new facilities. Colleague involvement has been invaluable throughout the process, ranging from internal aesthetics and therapeutic service design to a full Trust competition to rename the programme. Staff were asked to submit ideas within a given remit and then a shortlist was promoted via the intranet and email for a staff vote.

The winning name, Making Room for Dignity’, will have an accompanying logo, designed by a former Trust service user. This will be replicated with the naming of units and wards. As part of our ‘putting people first’ value, we offer a rolling programme of staff engagement sessions (am and pm to accommodate shift patterns). These are led by the programme’s, Lead Nurse, and have proved vital in gathering staff service design and ideas for delivery into the projects, which have then been communicated back to colleagues for full transparency into the projects.

We continue to engage with former service users and carers via the EQUAL forum to ensure that projects are shaped by those with lived experience of the mental health services. The programme is a standing agenda item for the EQUAL forum and members of the team attend the forums, feeding back on progress and engaging on arising matters, to meet our ‘honesty and transparency’ value. Further diversity and inclusion has come from our engagement with inpatients.

Surveys relating to the design of the wards were made available in a variety of accessible formats, allowing for greater diversity of inclusion. These surveys were also replicated to colleagues working on wards to meet the needs of the service users. This demonstrates integrity within the project’s delivery, and we are confident that the designs will replicate what our current service users consider important. All initiatives have been delivered via collaboration within our programme team, which includes non-executive directors, finance, communications, lived experience, nurses, OTs, CCG, operations, estates, staff side reps, HR and OD.

The team is committed to working with local providers to ensure inclusivity of the local community and their ideas, ensuring benefits continue to be offered.

Tilbury Douglas Construction

Diversity in all its forms is fundamental to our business. We operate in a variety of environments and geographies, in numerous roles, for a wide range of clients.

To do this effectively we need an equally diverse workforce that understands our customers’ needs and stimulates innovative solutions. We value the benefits that our workforce with its rich diversity of skills, cultural backgrounds and gender brings. Our goal is to recruit, motivate, develop, and retain outstanding people that reflect that diversity.

Our diversity policy is robust and forms part of our BS-EN-ISO 9001:2008 accredited management system which supports promoting equal opportunities. We believe an environment where equality exists leads to better performance from all of our employees who will feel they can fulfil their own potential in an atmosphere free from discrimination. Every employee at Tilbury Douglas has equal opportunity to develop and progress at every level in the organisation based on their own personal contribution and ability and we are committed to training and upskilling our workforce and promoting from within the company.

In the past 9 months, we have promoted 78 individuals nationally, testament to our commitment to developing and providing opportunities for our staff’s progression. In early 2021 we established a working group to review the diversity of our applicant base and establish baseline data on the diversity of candidates. From this baseline data we committed to increasing the diversity of our candidates through a range of different initiatives.

For example, on our early careers recruitment campaign we targeted female candidates who were registered with the Not Going to Uni database to increase the number of female applications for our apprentice roles. We have developed employee support networks including the Women’s Network, and our Multi-cultural Network all working towards realising and developing all areas of equality. We have also partnered up with Women in Construction to promote our vacancies on their website and have advertising space with Women in Science and Engineering (WISE).

We are members of the Black Professionals in Construction organisation whereby we also advertise our positions on their job board. We also delivered training to hiring managers on recruitment and selection in 2021, with a focus on Unconscious Bias. We were the first UK contractor to gain the Investor in diversity accreditation and achieved the National Equality Standard for Diversity.

To modernise our ways of working and make our business more inclusive and attractive, we introduced flexible working across the business as a standard working condition in 2021. Many colleagues requested the ability to continue a blended way of working during our employee survey and we recognised that flexible working allows us to support our staff with a better work life balance.

We are also the first contractor to partner with CRADLE, a charity providing services to support those affected by pregnancy loss. Our Tilbury Douglas Women’s Network are working with Cradle to further develop our maternity, paternity, fertility and child loss policies and Cradle will also offer direct support to colleagues.