NHS Birmingham and Solihull has formally adopted the NHS Confederation’s LGBTQ+ Inclusion framework, demonstrating its commitment to improving outcomes for LGBTQ+ members of staff and patients.
The NHS Birmingham and Solihull integrated care board is one of the first NHS organisations in the region to sign up to this nationally-recognised framework, which provides health and care leaders with practical tools to create inclusive environments for LGBTQ+ staff and service users.
The framework is based on six core pillars of action which focus on leadership, knowledge and understanding, data, the voice of service users and partnership working to develop services with and for LGBTQ+ people.
Melanie Lloyd, Chief People Officer for NHS Birmingham and Solihull said: “Adopting this framework is a really significant step for us – as an employer and as one of the partners in the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System.
“As an employer, we want to provide a working environment where people feel safe, supported and able to thrive regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Adopting this framework is an acknowledgement that there is still more to do to ensure that LGBTQ+ colleagues feel this way and gives us a robust structure to identify what we are doing well, where there are gaps and how we track and evaluate our progress.
“As a system one of our priorities is to tackle health inequalities in Birmingham and Solihull - and we know that the LGBTQ+ community continue to experience significant physical and mental health inequalities compared to the general population as a result of barriers to accessing healthcare and prejudice.
“Adopting this framework also demonstrates our commitment to improve health and care experiences for the wider LGBTQ+ community.
“As a reflection of the importance of this work, chief executive David Melbourne will take on the role of executive sponsor for embedding this framework, demonstrating his leadership and personal support to making NHS Birmingham and Solihull more inclusive.”
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More information about the framework including a short summary version, is available here.
Further information about our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion work can be found on our website.