Equality and diversity strategy

Transcription

1 Equality ad diversity strategy

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3 Itroductio Our equality ad diversity strategy outlies the priciples for idetifyig ad takig actio o the equality ad diversity issues that are relevat to our work. The strategy applies to our work as both a regulator ad a employer. The Geeral Medical Coucil (GMC) helps to protect patiets ad improve medical practice i the UK by settig stadards for medical studets ad doctors. We support them i achievig ad exceedig those stadards, takig actio wheever these are ot met. We treat everyoe fairly ad we are hoest ad strive to be ope ad trasparet are part of our orgaisatioal values. Defiitios We defie equality i our cotext as challegig discrimiatio, removig barriers faced by people from differet groups, ad creatig a fairer society where everyoe ca participate ad has the same opportuities to fulfil their potetial. We defie diversity as recogisig, respectig ad valuig the differeces that everyoe has, as well as leveragig the opportuities that differet people brig to the work that we do. Fairess for us meas coformig with rules ad stadards, makig judgemets that are free from bias, discrimiatio ad dishoesty, ad beig just to everyoe. I our Corporate strategy , we set out five strategic aims that will help us to protect patiets ad improve medical practice i the complex ad chagig healthcare eviromet. Each of these aims has equality ad diversity issues arisig from it examples of these are set out i the table o page 2. Geeral Medical Coucil 01

4 Our strategic aim Make the best use of itelligece about doctors ad the healthcare eviromet to esure good stadards ad idetify risks to patiets. Equality ad diversity cosideratios Mid Staffordshire ad other iquiries cofirm that there are groups of patiets who are at icreased risk of poor treatmet from health professioals. Some of these patiets are from groups that are protected * by equality law. Some groups of doctors may eed more support i deliverig the best care to patiets. There are certai characteristics that icrease the risk of doctors beig ivolved i our fitess to practise procedures. Help raise stadards i medical educatio ad practice. Cotiuig our efforts to esure that all doctors, irrespective of their backgroud, have the competece ad skills to care for the diversity of the UK s patiet populatio, ad uderstad the ethical issues that arise i practisig i the UK. Improve the level of egagemet ad efficiecy i the hadlig of complaits ad cocers about patiet safety. Icludig a diverse rage of doctors i our local outreach ad egagemet to uderstad the professio ad how we ca support doctors more effectively i good practice. Doig more work to uderstad who brigs cocers to us, recogisig that some complaiats will be people who share protected characteristics. Sigpostig complaiats more effectively to the local procedures to deal with their cocers before they approach the GMC. 02 Geeral Medical Coucil

5 Our strategic aim Work more closely with doctors, medical studets ad patiets o the frotlie of care. Equality ad diversity cosideratios Cosiderig the eeds ad prefereces of patiets ad doctors with protected characteristics as we seek ew ways of makig what we do more relevat to our key iterest groups. Cotiuig to cosider the impact of our activities o people with protected characteristics, icludig doctors, patiets ad the public. Cotiuig our work to esure fair treatmet of studets ad doctors with disabilities. Work better together to improve our overall effectiveess, our resposiveess ad the delivery of our regulatory fuctios. Treatig everyoe with respect ad cotiuig our work to be a employer of choice. Esurig that our zero tolerace policies o bullyig are adhered to. Aimig to achieve a diverse profile at seior levels, ad to attract a diverse pool of applicats i our recruitmet. Usig our ifluece to ecourage good practice o equality ad diversity through our collaborative work with other orgaisatios. I some istaces this will be part of our work to comply with the provisios of the public sector equality duty. * The Equality Act 2010 specifies ie groups of idividuals who have protected characteristics that are covered by this legislatio: age, disability, race, sex, geder reassigmet, marriage ad civil partership, pregacy ad materity, religio ad belief, sexual orietatio. Geeral Medical Coucil 03

6 Why equality ad diversity matter to the GMC

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8 We wat to uderstad ad take accout of the eeds ad expectatios of the diverse groups of patiets, doctors ad others affected by our work. We believe that equality ad diversity are itegral to our work as a regulator ad a employer for several reasos. Our ability to protect patiets ad improve stadards of medical practice is reliat o maitaiig the trust ad cofidece of all our iterest groups ad stakeholders. We wat to uderstad ad take accout of the eeds ad expectatios of the diverse groups of patiets, doctors ad others affected by our work. We wat to cotiue comply with equality ad huma rights legislatio, ad to be recogised as a orgaisatio that aspires to high stadards ad good practice o the issues that arise from this for example, aroud accessibility. The UK s workig populatio is diverse, ad we wat to have a workforce that reflects the diversity of the commuities i which we operate at all levels. 06 Geeral Medical Coucil

9 What we kow about the equality ad diversity issues that arise from our work For patiets ad the public Mid Staffordshire ad other iquiries have highlighted that some people are ot receivig the stadards of care they should expect from health professioals, icludig doctors. This icludes some childre ad youg people, older people, people with learig difficulties, ad people with differet commuicatio eeds. Our work with patiets also cofirms that there are substatial variatios i the stadards of care that some groups receive from their doctors for example, lesbia, gay ad bisexual people, some disabled people, ad people at differet stages of geder reassigmet. Added to this, some groups protected by equality law have substatially poorer health tha the geeral UK populatio, icludig travellers, ad some black ad miority ethic people. We also kow that some people from disadvataged socioecoomic groups, for example, homeless people, ca have difficulties accessig care. The reasos for these issues are complex ad iterrelated. Doctors behaviour ca be a importat cotributig factor for example, ageism may result i coditios like demetia beig uderdiagosed ad uderreported. We meet with several orgaisatios represetig patiets with protected characteristics. Oe of the questios they ask is: how are doctors equipped through their traiig to effectively treat a rage of coditios, i a way that meets the commuicatio ad other eeds of idividual patiets? They also ask us how this is reflected i the curricula that we approve. Aother issue that comes up i our dialogue with patiets is their eed to receive care that is i lie with their ow beliefs ad values, irrespective of their doctor s religio or beliefs. We recogise that there are some patiets for whom cotiuity of care will be particularly importat for example, patiets receivig care from may differet providers, ad patiets with capacity or commuicatio difficulties. We kow that some people with particular eeds experiece difficulties i raisig their cocers locally or with us, ad that we eed to cotiue to work to make our processes fully accessible to ayoe who eeds to cotact us. Geeral Medical Coucil 07

10 For doctors Some people face challeges i eterig the medical professio. The selectio procedures for studyig medicie vary betwee medical schools, ad our stadards for studets completig their medical degree may exclude some disabled people. Our aual atioal traiig survey shows that people from lower socioecoomic backgrouds are proportioally uderrepreseted i medicie. Some groups of doctors i traiig (male doctors, black ad miority ethic doctors) also have lower pass rates i examiatios ad assessmets. The law requires us to treat certai doctors differetly. For example, we test the cliical ad laguage skills of doctors who gaied their primary medical qualificatio outside of the UK ad the Europea Ecoomic Area. We have pushed to get the law chaged so that we ca assess the laguage skills of all doctors who wat to work i the UK. Doctors who have t completed GMCapproved specialist or GP traiig programmes ca use alterative routes to show that they have the kowledge, skills ad experiece equivalet to doctors who have achieved the Certificate of Completio of Traiig (CCT) or who are practisig as cosultats i the NHS. But some doctors feel that the curret optios for assessig the equivalece of applicats are ufair. We make decisios that ca substatially affect a doctor s career ad livelihood. Our fitess to practise procedures come uder itese scrutiy for the profile of doctors ivolved. There are cocers that: some groups of doctors are overrepreseted i referrals from the police ad the NHS some groups of doctors are at icreased risk of receivig a sactio or a warig whe we receive a complait about them doctors with health problems may feel that our processes are ivasive. 08 Geeral Medical Coucil

11 Revalidatio is the process by which all licesed doctors have to regularly show that they are meetig our stadards, icludig keepig their kowledge ad skills up to date. We egaged extesively with a diverse rage of people i our iterest groups before revalidatio was itroduced i December Feedback suggested that some doctors (such as locums ad specialty grade doctors, iteratioal medical graduates, black ad miority ethic doctors, ad doctors takig career breaks) were cocered about beig able to collect the supportig iformatio eeded to meet the requiremets of revalidatio. The law requires us to treat certai doctors differetly. Geeral Medical Coucil 09

12 Our visio Our visio for where we wat to be as a result of our work o equality ad diversity has three elemets: a fair regulator cofidece ad reputatio a fair employer.

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14 A fair regulator We will cosider the impact of our work o the groups of doctors, patiets ad the public who are protected by equality law. We will get views from a rage of people with protected characteristics to help us develop our policies ad plas. We will cotiue to comply with equality ad huma rights law. We will collect, aalyse ad share equality ad diversity data o the people ivolved i our activities to idetify ay treds. We will use our ifluece ad work with others to uderstad why some groups of doctors have differet outcomes i the activities that we regulate. Cofidece ad reputatio For doctors, patiets ad others to be cofidet i our work as a regulator ad employer, they eed to believe that we will act i a fair way. We will set out how we will measure progress towards where we wat to be as a result of our work o equality ad diversity, ad moitor our progress regularly. We will cotiue to ivolve a rage of people who share protected characteristics across the UK i shapig our activities. 12 Geeral Medical Coucil We will cotiue to take steps to make sure access to the medical professio ad progressio are fair for example, by commissioig further research to uderstad the differeces i outcomes for particular groups of doctors i assessmets ad examiatios. We will raise professioal stadards i medical educatio ad traiig. We will idetify ad reduce ay risks that may arise from others deliverig aspects of our regulatory fuctios for example, the work of resposible officers ad the desig of assessmets.

15 A fair employer We will treat everyoe who works for us fairly ad with digity ad respect. We will esure that our employmet arragemets support our aspiratios. We will work towards beig a more diverse workforce at all levels of our orgaisatio. We will cosider what this meas for developig our staff ad their progressio, ad for how we promote ourselves as a employer i the locatios i which we operate. We will use our ifluece ad work with others to uderstad why some groups of doctors have differet outcomes i the activities that we regulate. We will cotiue to collect equality ad diversity data o our recruitmet processes ad o our workforce to iform our work ad esure trasparecy. Geeral Medical Coucil 13

16 What we wat to achieve

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18 The themes for our equality ad diversity strategy are the result of cosultig with our staff, other orgaisatios, ad etworks represetig the views of people with protected characteristics. We are doig more work to set out how we will measure our progress ad impact. Some examples of what we would like to achieve iclude the followig. People who share protected characteristics (icludig doctors, patiets ad the public) believe that we treat ayoe ivolved i our work fairly, whether they are raisig cocers, applyig for registratio, sittig examiatios, beig revalidated, or ivolved i our fitess to practise procedures. We help to make sure that all patiets receive good stadards of care by givig doctors guidace ad support to uderstad ad meet the eeds of patiets with protected characteristics. We have stroger relatioships with orgaisatios represetig the iterests of doctors ad patiets with protected characteristics. We have comprehesive equality ad diversity data o registrats ad complaiats, ad a good uderstadig of how our activities affect people with protected characteristics. People with protected characteristics have a good uderstadig of our role, ad of whe ad how to raise their cocers locally before approachig the GMC. We work with others to address some of the fairess issues that arise from the activities that we regulate. Our workforce is diverse at all levels of the orgaisatio. We work with others to uderstad why particular groups of doctors are at icreased risk of beig ivolved i our fitess to practise procedures. 16 Geeral Medical Coucil

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20 Website: Telephoe: Geeral Medical Coucil, 3 Hardma Street, Machester M3 3AW Joi the facebook.com/gmcuk likd.i/gmcuk youtube.com/gmcuktv To ask for this publicatio i Welsh, or i aother format or laguage, please call us o or us at publicatios@gmc-uk.org. Published Jauary Geeral Medical Coucil The text of this documet may be reproduced free of charge i ay format or medium providig it is reproduced accurately ad ot i a misleadig cotext. The material must be ackowledged as GMC copyright ad the documet title specified. The GMC is a charity registered i Eglad ad Wales ( ) ad Scotlad (SC037750) Code: GMC/EDS /0316