Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is celebrating and raising awareness of diversity this month as part of a global campaign.
October is Global Diversity Awareness Month which aims to celebrate diversity and inclusion and which provides an opportunity to educate each other about differences too. The month is a chance to hear new views and ideas, appreciate cultural differences, and enjoy a fresh perspective on different cultures and ideas.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals prides itself on being an inclusive and diverse organisation, and is lucky to have a workforce full of talented individuals who originate from 94 different countries across the globe and who come from a variety of backgrounds.
The organisation held its first Valuing Diversity Conference in June this year to raise awareness of the importance of recognising and celebrating diversity. The event included Bollywood dancing lessons, a discussion from Tez Ilyas (comedian) challenging stereotypes and generalisations, a presentation from the Head of Diversity and Inclusion at NHS England and some very inspirational, personal stories were shared too.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals also had a presence at Preston Pride this year, with the aim of signalling its commitment to being inclusive to its workforce but also bringing the local community together to celebrate and support inclusion and equality. This was the perfect chance for staff to speak with people in the community to gather views about the services and how to work together in the future.
Furthermore, the Pride flag was raised across both Royal Preston Hospital and Chorley District Hospital sites in support of the celebrations.
Mandy Davis, Blended Learning Manager and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead (Workforce) at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “We are totally committed to creating an inclusive working environment, in addition to developing and delivering services that respond to people’s individual needs”
“We are proud to be actively participating in events like Global Diversity Awareness Month, Black History Month and Pride to ensure that our hospitals truly celebrate diversity and champion inclusion at every level.”