Staff at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are raised awareness and improving education throughout February the month .
LGBT History Month takes place annually throughout February and aims to encourage conversations, and reduce prejudice and discrimination through improving education around lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history. This year’s theme centres on peace, activism and reconciliation.
To celebrate the month, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals flew the Pride flag across both Royal Preston Hospital and Chorley District Hospital. The hospitals also flew these flags last year throughout September in support of Preston Pride; which the team attended to signal their commitment to being an inclusive employer, and to bring the local community together to celebrate inclusion and equality. This was the perfect chance for staff to speak with people in the community to gather views about the services offered currently and how to work together in the future.
The organisation’s commitment to inclusion, equality and diversity was also acknowledged recently by being named in the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers List for 2018. Achieving a position on the list recognises the outstanding efforts of employers that are on a journey to reinforce their commitment to attracting and retaining a diverse workforce.
The organisation held its first Valuing Diversity conference last year to recognise and celebrate 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.
As well as this, staff ambassador forums have recently been launched at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals to allow staff to share their views, discuss issues and concerns, and network with other colleagues. There are forums dedicated to different staff groups such as LGBTQ+ staff, BME staff, staff living with disabilities, and multi-faith colleagues. All staff are welcome to attend, either as a staff member who identifies as belonging to one of the aforementioned groups, or as an ally who supports equality and inclusion for all and wants to understand issues and support positive change.
Mandy Davis, Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Blended Learning at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “As an organisation, we are totally committed to enhancing our equality, diversity and inclusion offer to our people. I am thrilled the work we have already undertaken signals our progression and look forward to improving on this year on year. We want to ensure our hospitals truly celebrate diversity and champion inclusion at every level and have started our journey to achieve this through these forums and events. LGBT History Month is a great opportunity to further encourage conversations around diversity and inclusion and to learn more.”