Equality Delivery System

NHS England has developed a framework called the Equality Delivery System (EDS2) to help local NHS organisations set priorities for making improvements in equality and diversity for patients, the public and staff.

Dorset HealthCare uses this framework to:

  • Improve the equality performance of the Trust, embedding equality into the mainstream of its business
  • Enable the Trust to meet the requirements of the statutory public sector equality duty contained within the Equality Act (2010) and the NHS Act (2006).

The video below explains more about the EDS2. You can also read more about it on NHS England's guide to the refreshed Equality Delivery System (EDS2).

Our equality objectives

The Trust has used the refreshed EDS2 as a framework for its equality objectives for 2016-19. These objectives were developed from input from staff and the local community, and have been agreed by the Trust Board.

Our equality objectives are:

  • Better health outcomes: We will aim to achieve improvements in patient health, public health and patient safety for all, based on comprehensive evidence of needs and results
  • Improved patient access and experience: We will aim to improve accessibility and information, and deliver the right services that are targeted, useful, useable and used in order to improve patient experience
  • A representative and supportive workforce: We will aim to increase the diversity and quality of the working lives of the paid and non-paid workforce, supporting all staff to better respond to patients’ and communities’ needs
  • Inclusive leadership: We will aim to ensure that equality is everyone’s business, and everyone is expected to take an active part, supported by the work of specialist equality leaders and champions

Performance against these objectives is monitored using a reporting framework provided by the Department of Health.

Useful resources

Equality & Diversity