Our commitment to equality

We are working to prevent discrimination, advance equal opportunities, assess the impact of decisions on protected groups through Equality Impact Assessments, and develop policies that support fair and inclusive healthcare services and workplaces.

The Equality Act (2010) 

The Equality Act of 2010 was introduced to create a fairer society by protecting people from being discriminated against in all aspects of their daily lives due to their ‘protected characteristics’.  These are defined as their: 

  • age 
  • gender reassignment 
  • being married or in a civil partnership 
  • being pregnant or on maternity leave 
  • disability 
  • race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin 
  • religion or belief 
  • sex 
  • sexual orientation. 

The Act protects everyone in Britain because we all have ‘protected characteristics’, and extends to protect people who could experience discrimination because of their close link to a person with a protected characteristic, for example, a friend or family carer of an adult with a disability. 

The Public Sector Equality Duty – creating a fairer society 

To support the aims of the Equality Act, our ICB has legal responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty to promote equality in every aspect of our day-to-day business.  We do this by having ‘due regard’ to the three equality aims of the Public Sector Equality Duty, which are: 

  • to put an end to unlawful behaviour that is banned by the Equality Act 2010, including discrimination, harassment and victimisation 
  • to advance equal opportunities between people who have protected characteristics and people who do not 
  • to foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and people who do not (although this doesn’t apply to the marriage and civil partnerships characteristic). 

We work closely with local people, patients, providers of NHS services, staff and voluntary organisations to help further equality and eliminate discrimination within our services and working environments through: 

  • the decisions we make 
  • the internal and external policies we agree 
  • the way we procure goods and services 
  • the services we provide to the public 
  • the way we recruit, promote and performance manage our employees. 

Equality Impact Assessments 

An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) is a tool that helps us to place equality, diversity, cohesion and integration at the heart of the ICB’s decision making. Carrying out an EIA involves assessing the likely or actual positive or negative effects of proposed policies on those with protected characteristics, and removing or mitigating negative impacts. For example, a 2023 EIA on a proposed new integrated diabetes service considered the advantages of the service for pregnant women and those with diabetes. 

We do not currently routinely publish all equality impact assessments, although they are available on request. Our process for assessing equality impacts is also available on request. The ICB’s Governance Handbook (ADD LINK) makes clear the importance of assessing equality impact and the roles of our committees and governance in this. 

Next steps 

We’re working on a new EDI Policy and Strategy for Central East and will publish that as soon as it’s available. 

We will continue to review and develop the information we provide on this site to show how we are promoting equality and meeting our legal responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty, incorporating the feedback we receive from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.