Welcome to the November issue of The Triangle
The issue of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in health and care has been in the news recently following a letter sent to Integrated Care Boards by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care asking them either to stop recruiting to jobs focused solely on this area or to justify doing so publicly.
This has caused debate in the press and the wider NHS so we would like to explain why EDI is of central importance to the work of the BSW Together Integrated Care System.
EDI is important because, at present, different communities in BaNES, Swindon and Wiltshire experience different health and care outcomes and have different experiences of accessing care. This is simply not good enough and it is one of BSW ICB’s key priorities – and indeed our statutory duty – to work together to address this situation.
EDI is also important for us as an employer. We simply could not provide the services we do without our hardworking and dedicated staff, and we need to ensure that everyone working in health and care in BSW feels at home, safe, understood and cared for, so they are fully equipped to care for the people in the communities we serve. Having colleagues with expertise in EDI helps us to reflect, learn and adapt our ways of working to ensure our workplace is fully inclusive and a place where people want to work
While we have much to do, our new EDI strategy – which we covered in the last issue of the Triangle – sets out a robust pathway for how we can continue to tackle this issue.
Elsewhere this month, we are pleased to report progress in a number of important pieces of work.
Firstly, work is continuing at pace on our Integrated Community Based Care (ICBC) programme with the process of securing partners to deliver services now underway. This programme of work will transform the way we will develop our health and care services, out of hospital, closer to home and in the community, making a real difference to the lives of people living in BSW.
Secondly, we had a productive and positive meeting of our Integrated Care Partnership recently. This is a joint committee formed by the BSW Integrated Care Board (BSW ICB), Bath and North East Somerset Council, Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Council that brings together a wide range of organisations and stakeholders to focus on prevention, wider social and economic factors affecting people’s health and reducing health inequalities. The meeting covered a lot of ground including our Implementation Plan and important updates on our work focussing on children and young people, learning disabilities and autism. You can read more about the meeting in this issue of The Triangle.
As always, thank you for taking the time to read this issue and please let us know what you think about the work of BSW ICB by getting in touch with bswicb.communications@nhs.net