Since 2015, all NHS organisations have been required to demonstrate how they are addressing race equality issues through the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES). This now forms part of the NHS standard contract for both commissioning and provider organisations.
WRES is designed to support the healthcare system to understand and address the challenge of workforce race equality and to ensure those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds have equal access to career opportunities and receive fair treatment in the workplace.
The NHS workforce, as a whole, is now more diverse than at any time in its history. Organisations across the NHS are working hard to improve workforce race inequality, but most still have challenges to address. Arden & GEM Commissioning Support Unit can provide the expertise and capacity required to accelerate your WRES performance, improve equality and help you to develop the motivated, included and valued workforce required to deliver high quality patient care, increased patient satisfaction and improved patient outcomes.
The vision outlined in the recently launched NHS People Plan has a central focus of promoting and creating the best environment for our staff and delivery of the WRES is a significant part of achieving those objectives.
Our WRES support services
Our fully trained WRES Experts can help your organisation to deliver its statutory requirements while simultaneously enhancing your culture and creating an environment where all employees can reach their potential.
We provide modular or end-to-end support spanning the three key areas of effective WRES delivery:
Data Analysis
All provider and commissioning organisations are mandated to collect and report on nine specified WRES metrics designed to demonstrate progress against a number of indicators of workforce equality.
While this data is a useful starting point, in isolation it only provides a snapshot of the current situation rather than clear understanding of individual challenges and opportunities to improve.
Our deep dive of WRES data will provide the insight needed to enable you to compare your performance against your local population statistics, similar NHS organisations and national benchmarks. This insight delivers understanding of where improvements can be made and provide potential sources of learning and best practice which can support this journey.
Planning
Once your organisation has a clear understanding of its WRES data, we can help you to formulate action plans to address WRES indicators where there is a significant gap between the experience, treatment and opportunities for BAME and white staff.
Utilising our extensive experience and knowledge of best practice, we provide guidance on potential actions that can be taken to improve your performance. Whether this be in an advisory capacity, or contracted to fully develop your WRES strategy, our support is individually tailored to deliver best value for your organisation.
Implementation
We can also support you with the implementation of initiatives that can significantly improve your performance against WRES indicators and create a more equitable working environment.
Our Experts provide services including:
- Talent management
- Reverse mentoring
- Succession planning
- Diverse interview panels
- Unconscious bias training
- Sponsorship of BAME staff
- Development of BAME staff networks
The Benefits
Effective WRES management can deliver the following benefits for your organisation and its people:
- Meet and surpass the statutory requirements set out in the NHS standard contract, CCG assurance framework, NHS People Plan and NHS Long Term Plan
- Create an included, engaged and valued workforce that delivers high quality patient care, increased patient satisfaction and better patient outcomes
- Access a larger talent pool for your organisation to ensure you have the skills and capabilities required to deliver your objectives
- Demonstrate that employees from BAME backgrounds have equal access to career opportunities and receive fair treatment via your published statistics
- Improve organisational performance by creating a committed and motivated workforce with lower levels of absenteeism
- Enable staff to be at their best they need to have a sense of belonging, improving on the culture and environment through the WRES will allow staff to bring their “best self to work”.