Between 2022 and 2023, our Inclusion Unit provided a bespoke ‘due regard’ support package to the Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme (NHP), helping to further embed equality, diversity and inclusion considerations into programme decision-making. The support package provided by our Inclusion Unit involved a range of deliverables to support the programme with implementing inclusive decision-making practices and meet legal equality requirements.

Background

The Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme (NHP) is part of the national New Hospital Programme (NHP) for England. Replacements for Royal Preston Hospital and Royal Lancaster Infirmary are part of a rolling programme of national investment in capital infrastructure beyond 2030. In addition, Furness General Hospital in Barrow will benefit from investment in improvements.

The programme aims to transform hospital facilities and improve the experiences of patients, families and carers by addressing significant infrastructure problems with Royal Preston Hospital and Royal Lancaster Infirmary and also investing in Furness General Hospital’s infrastructure.

In 2022, The Inclusion Unit were commissioned to provide lead equality support to assist the Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme with meeting the requirements of equalities legislation including evidencing ‘due regard’ to the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Our Inclusion Unit provided support across two stages of work:

1)    An initial evaluation of where current equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) considerations were embedded within programme decision-making processes.

2)    An ongoing EDI support package containing key deliverables informed by the findings and recommendations from the initial position statement report.

Action

The Inclusion Unit provided the following deliverables as part of the tailored support package, alongside ongoing equality advice:

• The position statement – Reviewing programme work stream documentation and processes such as the emerging clinical, estates, infrastructure and digital plans to consider current EDI considerations and what would be required in order to meet equalities law. 
• Governance report – Assessing programme governance structures and processes to consider how effectively the programme was capturing, recording and managing equality requirements and risks.
• Communications and engagement appraisal – Evaluating the extensive engagement and involvement activity conducted by the programme to consider how effective it had been at meeting equalities legislation. This also involved conducting a mapping exercise to assess the extent to which protected characteristic groups had been involved in programme decision-making.
• Demographic insight report – Producing an in-depth data insight report, which provided an overview of the demographics of people across Lancashire and South Cumbria by protected characteristic and inclusion health groups, alongside health inequalities and wider determinants of health.
• EDI training – Delivering awareness training to key programme leads to outline the requirements of equalities legislation.
• Equality and Health Inequality Impact and Risk Assessment (EHIIRA) support – Providing EHIIRA support and guidance to the programme and work stream leads where assessment work was recommended.

Impact

The provision of the bespoke support package has resulted in the programme to access specialist equality knowledge and intelligence from the Inclusion Unit, which has supported them to be able to meet the requirements of equalities legislation and embed inclusive decision-making processes.  

By commissioning our support, NHP were provided with ongoing specialist support and advice, alongside a series of deliverables that provided insight and guidance that will support them with complex decision-making relating to hospital service design and infrastructure, care planning and engagement, involvement and consultation practices. 

Our support enabled the programme to be in a stronger position to meet important equalities legal requirements. As part of this, we worked considerably with programme leads to establish robust EHIIRA processes for capturing and recording potential impacts and equality risks, providing EIA guidance, coaching assessment leads and to recommend best practice in terms of recording equality considerations.  

The programme expressed that the support provided by the Inclusion Unit strengthened their understanding of equalities, and the requirements of both the Equality Act 2010, and the Public sector equality duty and highlighted the significant benefits of embedding inclusive decision-making practices into the programme.

Feedback

“The Inclusion Unit provided important support to the new hospitals programme.  This large-scale programme needed to work out what was required to meet the requirements of Equalities law and to ensure that we were carefully considering the needs of different people.  They quickly integrated with the core programme team bringing their skills, experience and friendly nature and methodically worked out what was required, breaking this down into key deliverables that were then undertaken. They provided the support and expertise that we required, and we particularly appreciated their pragmatic and efficient approach to meeting the legal requirements across the complexity of our programme.”

Rebecca Malin | Programme Director | Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System