Workforce Disability Equality Standard Annual Report 2021-2022
’BHT is committed to building an inclusive culture that is intolerant of discrimination, bullying and harassment. We will create an environment where everyone feel included, supported and treated fairly. We do not tolerate bullying, harassment, discrimination or other negative behaviours’’
Neil Macdonald, Chief Executive Officer, Sept 2021
The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of ten specific metrics which requires all NHS organisations to compare the workplace and career experiences of disabled and non-disabled colleagues. The WDES enables BHT to better understand the experiences of our disabled colleagues and those with long term conditions in order to supports positive change for all existing employees by creating a more inclusive environment for disabled people working and seeking employment in the NHS. Year on year comparisons enables us to measure progress against the indicators of disability equality.
In 2020, BHT The Trust Board agreed two specific objectives in relation to disability equality within the Trust:
- Our recruitment processes will be fair, with equal outcomes for disabled and non-disabled applicants by the end of 2021
- All disabled colleagues will be provided with reasonable adjustments where needed by end of 2022
Summary of WDES Progress in 2022
The recruitment ratio for disabled vs non-disabled applicants improved slightly this year. I.e. the gap between the likelihood of a disabled person being recruited from shortlisting, compared to a non-disabled person closed slightly, meaning that we have reached parity on this metric (a ratio which falls between 0.8 and 1.2)
As at March 2022, 218 colleagues had declared a disability or long term condition, compared to 175 in March 2021. This represents an improvement in the declaration rate from 2.8% to 3.38%, which had previously not changed for a number of years.
There have been no significant changes to any other WDES indicators this year. This was anticipated as our enhanced WDES action plan was put in place in October 2021; the same time period in which the survey data was collected. We are confident that our WDES action plan will support significant improvements in these areas in the future.