Recognising the diverse needs of individuals is important to ensure we create more opportunities and continue to offer excellent care for all.
We understand and recognise that:
- We have a legal obligation under the Public Sector Equality Duty to address discrimination, advance equal opportunities and foster good relations across protected characteristics
- People can experience inequalities, discrimination, harassment, and other barriers
- Patients should be at the centre of our decision making, and in partnership we can respond and deliver high quality, accessible services that tackle inequalities
- We must strive to create and maintain an environment of dignity, tolerance and mutual respect that can be experienced by all of our patients, colleagues and members.
Public Sector Equality Duty in Primary Care
How does the PSED apply to private businesses?
The PSED applies to the delivery of NHS services. If your practice is a private business, the PSED only applies to your delivery of NHS services. It does not apply when you deliver private medical services and does not cover your role as an employer.
GP practices carrying out public functions must have due regard to meeting the aims of the PSED. The three aims are as follows.
1. Put an end to unlawful behaviour under the Equality Act 2010, including discrimination, harassment and victimisation
This means taking action to prevent unlawful behaviour under the Equality Act 2010 from happening in the GP practice.
For example, your practice could create a policy which sets out the practice’s commitment to equality, and the responsibilities of staff to reflect those commitments when dealing with the public. This could include a commitment to providing accessible, non-digital alternatives to services that have been digitalised and ensuring staff are trained to offer the alternatives to patients.
2. Advance equal opportunities between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not share it
This aim means:
- removing or minimising disadvantages connected to a protected characteristic
- taking steps to meet the different needs of people with different protected characteristics
- encouraging people who share a protected characteristic to participate fully where their participation is disproportionately low
There are many ways that GP practices can take steps to meet the different needs of people with different protected characteristics. For example, this may include a surgery setting up a disabled patients’ user group to find out their views about a proposed online consultation system. This may help the surgery meet its positive duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.
3. Foster good relations between people who have a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not have it
This means having due regard to the need to tackle prejudice and promote understanding. For example, you could display informative material in your practice and on your website that presents neurodiverse patients in a positive way