Promuovere l'equità in sanita: un modello da NHS Scotland 8 Maggio 2013 James Glover, Head of Equality & Diversity NHS Lothian, Scotland

Aim of this presentation To share good practice about how equity can be built into the planning and delivery of health services, using a model from the National Health Service in Scotland.

Contents Setting the scene: an introduction to NHS Lothian and the Scottish context What are the equity issues faced by health services? What are the starting points in developing an equity strategy? The main components Impact assessment and the Equity Standards Making the strategy work

Introduction to the speaker James Glover, Head of Equality & Diversity, NHS Lothian Government Equity Commission Services in charity and community sector Research scientist

Setting the scene: what do we mean by equity and discrimination? Equity Discrimination

Setting the scene: an introduction to NHS Lothian

Introduction to NHS Lothian (1) Lothian region covers Edinburgh and much of South Eastern Scotland, with a population of 880,000 NHS in Scotland has separate funding and policy arrangements to rest of UK Six large hospitals in Lothian (3 teaching), budget €1.8bn 23,000 staff Community health through 300 sites

Introduction to NHS Lothian (2) Lothian’s population… Ageing rapidly One person in five has a disability 7% from ethnic minorities 8-10% are lesbian, gay, bisexual Pockets of severe deprivation, especially in communities where there were heavy industries

Who has poorer health?

Why does NHS Lothian need an equity strategy? Legal requirements Government health policy Drive for safer, more efficient services Drive for better patient experience

Equity laws in the UK Rights for individuals since 1970 Plus…. The Public Sector Equality Duty for race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion The organisation must take proactive steps, not about individual rights Workforce and service delivery Regulator: Equality and Human Rights Commission

Starting points in developing an equity plan Leadership commitment A committee with responsibility for equity Evidence Involvement of patient and community representatives An honest assessment of the current position – e.g. use the International Equity Standards and impact assessment

Engagement in developing an equity strategy In NHS Lothian we invited 10 key local representatives to form a steering group: The group was made up of people with a wide range of characteristics Met 5 times over 8 months Identified areas needing improvement, and prioritised actions Carried out an impact assessment of the resulting plan

Using the Equity Standards Five Standards looking at: 1.The organisation’s equity policies and processes, and the way it employs its workforce 2.How people access services and information 3.Equity in quality of care 4.Equity in engagement with patients and the community 5.Working with partner organisations to achieve equity Use on the whole organisation, or Use on a specific service Use to identify weaknesses and strengths

Impact assessment – what is it? A way of identifying the likely impacts of a plan or policy… - on equity for disadvantaged groups - on the environment - on privacy - on Human Rights In this presentation we will talk about impacts on equity for disadvantaged groups: “EQIA”

Impact assessment – why do it? Legally required in Scotland International Equity Standards 1.1 Good practice reasons –Improves policies and plans –Saves money –Helps decision making –Helps to counter negative publicity –Helps identify gaps in data and research

Impact assessment – what are the steps? Typically, in a group…. 1.Take a policy or plan 2.Identify what evidence is available 3.Identify how the policy or plan might affect different groups of people 4.Identify ways of dealing with negative impacts and promoting positive impacts 5.Agree actions 6.Monitor

Impact assessment – when should it be done? Can be done…. Early on to help with deciding on options Or Once the policy or plan has been drafted BUT before it is finally approved

Impact assessment – who should take part? Ideally… The owner of the policy or plan The senior person responsible Representatives of patients or the local community Operational staff A trade union representative A facilitator

Making impact assessment work – taking action Must include an action plan Actions must: - be specific - be realistic - be measurable - have a time scale - have a named person responsible

Impact assessment – what can go wrong? Not enough data or research The wrong people around the table Doing it too late, so that changes can not be made to the plan or policy Failing to monitor the actions

NHS Lothian’s model Centralised, expert-led EQIA model Flexible EQIA toolkit “Rapid” impact assessment includes health inequalities About 100 EQIAs each year Always follow up actions Monitor committees and services Training and support where performance poor

Importance of monitoring Actions arising from EQIAs (after 4-6, 12 months) 2009: 20% of actions completed 2011: virtually 100% of actions completed after 6 months

Does impact assessment make a difference?

EQIA making a difference (1) Child Healthy Weight plan: Initial plan was to work with all schools in a universal approach. Following the EQIA the programme was redirected to work much more intensively with schools in the most deprived areas only. The results of the EQIA went back to the national group co-ordinating child healthy weight work, and this approach was then copied across Scotland.

EQIA making a difference (2) It was proposed to cut the funds for a local “branch” GP surgery in an area of deprivation and expand the main surgery instead: The EQIA identified that there would be significant negative impacts if funding for a local extension surgery was reduced. As a direct result the proposal was reversed and the surgery remains open.

The cost of not doing EQIA…. Major project to redevelop a hospital site in Edinburgh involved building a multi-level car park Plans were not subjected to EQIA Project managers “forgot” to include measures for disability access – including elevators Had to fit elevators after the building completed, at huge cost

Do equity strategies work? NHS Lothian’s equity strategy has helped us to become the best performing NHS organisation in Scotland for equity EQIA process widely used by others, including in other European countries Improving patient feedback, including from disadvantaged groups

Summary Equity strategies and why they are needed What are the steps? Using the International Equity Standards to measure performance Involving people in developing your equity strategy Using impact assessment to build equity into processes and plans

For more information: James Glover Head of Equality & Diversity (office) (mobile) To see NHS Lothian’s Equity Strategy, and our impact assessments, go to “Your rights” on the NHS Lothian website at To see the International Equity Standards go to Events>Task Force Meetings> Migrant- Friendly & Culturally Competent Health Care