Legal Duties - Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on us to offer protection from discrimination to patients and staff based on the ‘protected characteristics’ of age, religion or belief, sex, disability, race, sexual orientation, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnerships. The Act replaces previous anti-discrimination legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and the Race Relations Act 2000. It simplifies the law by removing inconsistencies and makes it easier for people to understand and comply with it. It imposes obligations on everyone who provides services to the public, whether they are in the private, public or voluntary sectors. To read a summary of the Equality Act click Equality Act Summary.
The Act includes the Public Sector Equality Duty which requires public sector organisations not only to eliminate unlawful discrimination, but to advance equality of opportunity and fostergood relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. We are obliged to set equality and diversity objectives every four years and report annually the progress we are making to achieve these objectives.
Equality Delivery System
To meet our statutory and moral duties, NHS Somerset is implementing the Equality Delivery System. The EDS was designed by patients and staff to help the NHS improve equality performance and embed equality into services. To find out more click here.
The NHS Constitution
The NHS Constitution protects the principles of the NHS and sets out the legal rights and pledges of the NHS to patients, the public and staff. Click here for more information.
