The Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) was made available to the NHS from April 2015, following sustained engagement and consultation with key stakeholders including a widespread of NHS organisations across England. Since April 2015, the WRES has been included in the NHS standard contract.

The WRES provides direction and tailored support to the healthcare system to:

• identify the gap in treatment and experience between white and BME staff;
• make comparisons with similar organisations on level of progress over time;
• take remedial action on causes of ethnic disparities in indicator outcomes.

The evidence of the link between the treatment of staff and patient care is particularly well evidenced for BME staff in the NHS, so this is an issue for patient care, not just for staff.

The “business case” for race equality in the NHS, and for the Workforce Race Equality Standard, is now a powerful one. NHS England, with its partners, is committed to tackling race discrimination and creating an NHS where the talents of all staff are valued and developed – not least for the sake of our patients. The NHS cannot afford the cost to staff and patient care that comes from unfairness in the appointment, treatment and development of a large section of the NHS workforce.

Research shows that diverse teams and leaderships are better for innovation and increase the organisational effectiveness the NHS needs. We know that we do best when healthcare organisations’ leadership broadly reflect the communities we serve.

All Independent Providers have been asked to complete the WRES for the first time by 31^st October 2019.  ECCH has taken part in the Standard as part of good practice and this is recognised by the CQC.

ECCH focusses on embedding a positive approach to equality and diversity and this is reflected and supported in our policies and procedures.

We recognise that Board-level sponsorship and support of this work, together with shared ownership across the organisation, is essential to ensuring that ECCH meets its contractual and legal equality requirements, the expectation of regulators, the aspirations of its staff, and the best interests of its patients/service users.