Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Quick Links

St Wilfrid’s Hospice is for everyone

Our vision is for all dying people and their loved ones to have access to the support and care they need.

For our vision to succeed, it is vital that we welcome, understand the needs of, and can support people with diverse backgrounds, characteristics and needs.  It is also core to our success that our staff, volunteers and supporters champion equality, embrace our spirit of inclusivity and reflect the diversity of the community we serve.

Our vision shows that we encourage people to engage with us as their local Hospice, and this goes beyond patient care, to staff members, volunteers and supporters. 

  • Equality is about actively ensuring everybody has equity in their outcomes, and is not discriminated against because of their characteristics.
  • Diversity is about recognising and respecting differences, and placing value on those differences.
  • Inclusion is about being invited to be a part of St Wilfrid’s Hospice, and includes the behaviours that ensure all people feel welcome.

Why is Equality, Diversity and Inclusion important to St Wilfrid’s Hospice?

In addition to our legal responsibilities under the NHS Constitution, Care Quality Commission, Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998, we believe that actively working on improving our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion development has multiple benefits:

  1. Ensuring that our organisation is representative of the community we serve. We care for over 325 people at any one time, and serve a catchment area of over 190,000 people
  2. Giving us a better understanding of the needs of our patients and how these needs can be best met
  3. Ensuring all our patients feel they are treated as individuals, and with respect
  4. Developing our empathy for each other by interacting with diverse groups in our community
  5. Helping our organisation make positive connections to all areas of our local community
  6. Giving a better understanding of the individual needs of team members
  7. Improving our staff retention and morale
  8. Attracting skilled staff and volunteers from a diverse talent pool

What are we doing to work on our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion development?

We set up a dedicated Equality, Diversity and Inclusion steering group in early 2021, led by our Chief Executive and one of our Trustees, with members of our team from around the organisation. We have started our development by listening to and learning from our staff and volunteer teams, and plan to reach out to other groups for feedback and to work together. We will be formulating an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy and a clear set of goals over the coming months, which will inform our actions to increase diversity and inclusion and promote equality of outcome for all.

We are on a journey to develop our effectiveness in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and welcome comments and feedback from our supporters, patients and loved ones.

If you’d like to ask a question or make a comment on our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion development please go to our Comments, Compliments and Complaints page.