The Board of LSCFT place huge value on shaping an inclusive and diverse culture. This isn’t just a ‘nice to do’, it’s at the heart of delivering our aim of providing the best possible care for our patients and communities.
Our patients flourish when they have a strong connection with the people delivering their care, so we need a diverse workforce that reflects the communities that we serve. Diversity is a strength in its own right. An organisation where everyone can bring their wholeself to work is much more likely to have the creativity and energy we need to improve the work that we do every day. That is why we have invited our race equality network co-chairs to attend our Board meetings and provide reflections on our discussions. We have worked with our Council of Governors on their role in promoting this culture. We spend time as a Board understanding the inequalities across our communities and discussing how best to tackle them. We analyse the data from our staff surveys to understand the challenges that some of our colleagues face and the support they need. We have pledged to become an anti-racist organisation. We bring the topic of inclusion and diversity to life through the patient and staff stories that open every Board meeting. We know that there is so much still to do. No one should come to work and feel unfairly treated or discriminated against for any reason. Inclusion and diversity are central to living out our values of being kind, respectful, always learning and part of a team. This is vital if LSCFT is to be a place where our colleagues can take joy and pride in their work and where our patients can receive the best possible care.
David Fillingham
Trust Chair
Our non-executive directors
Lucinda McArthur:
"We don't all have an equal chance to achieve good outcomes. A significant amount of the resulting differences driven by stigma are unfair, unjust and importantly, avoidable. Creating the conditions for a more inclusive culture is central to achieving LSCFT's strategic ambitions. Listening deeply to the experience of our staff, our patients and the local communities we serve will meaningfully inform how we adapt, challenge, improve, innovate and bring change. Visibility through our governance is key from neighbourhood and ward to Board, so we are assured that we are making a demonstrable difference to different groups in the right way for sustainable change."
Anika Ephraim:
“My commitment to inclusion and allyship is fundamental and something I take very seriously. A lot of work is being done by colleagues at LSCFT to make the Trust a truly inclusive organization for everyone and I strive to play my part wherever I can. For me this means actively supporting colleagues from different backgrounds and advocating for them during board discussions, especially for our colleagues and communities who may not always have the opportunity to have their voices heard.
I meet with colleagues across the Trust during director engagement visits and listen deeply as they share their experiences, to learn and educate myself on issues that affect their day-to-day work, and where possible sharing what I’ve learned to positively influence the Board and the decisions we make. I champion inclusive policies and I am fully committed to the Trust’s zero tolerance stance to racism.
I speak up when I witness bias and exclusion because standing up for fairness and confronting discrimination is the right thing to do. Being an ally is a commitment to consistent, intentional actions that I strive for every day.”
Stephen Watkins:
“I am aware of the adverse experiences of minority communities and in my previous role as Director of the NHS Benchmarking Network, established and led a national initiative to collect and report the evidence that underpins the structural inequalities experienced by BAME patients in mental health services (and also by BAME staff). BAME patients have historically had adverse experiences and outcomes in NHS mental health services, for example, people of Black/Black British ethnicities are more than twice as likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act, and up to five times as likely to be patients in secure mental health services. I worked closely with the Royal College of Psychiatrists equalities champions to ensure this evidence was collected, analysed and discussed at CEO level as a catalyst for change. This work was a major influence on NHS England's subsequent Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework, the first anti-racism framework for the NHS. I am pleased the NHS Benchmarking Network continue with this work and report on the experience of BAME patients every year.
I have also advocated for improved experience and outcomes for people with learning disabilities and autism and worked closely with NHS England to help establish the Learning Disability Improvement Standards for NHS trusts which all trusts now report annually to boards and NHS England.
Inclusion is a fundamental part of life, and we all need to act assertively to ensure we do the right thing as members of society, as employees of LSCFT and the wider NHS. Since joining LSCFT I have been impressed by the commitment at all levels of the organisation to inclusion and belonging, this work needs to continue to ensure the best possible experience for our patients, staff and population we serve.”
