Our commitment to addressing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in health and care innovation

Innovation and transformation must be accessible and responsive to our diverse populations, and all our projects are informed by insight into health inequalities across East Midlands’ communities.

The East Midlands is one of the most diverse areas of the UK. Our work aligns to and supports delivery of the NHS Core20PLUS5 adults and children health equity priorities.

Our dedicated resource helps to ensure our work is built around the needs of people from across protected characteristic, health inequality groups, and around broader issues such as digital poverty and exclusion, inequity arising from rural, coastal and urban deprivation and ensuring our innovations address and do not widen health inequalities.

We undertake equality analysis for all our projects - regularly reviewed as the innovation progresses through the pipeline stages. Building on this commitment, we established the Expert People’s Panel, an independent group drawn from the different protected characteristic and health inequality groups, who bring health experience and insight across a range of conditions. The panel provides critical friend input to our equality analysis process.

We also provide expertise and support to our healthcare partners and Integrated Care Systems – for example by producing health inequality summaries tailored to each ICS area that cross reference data from multiple sources.

Learn more about Equality, Diversity and Inclusion work and our health inequality summary

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Impacts

Embedding equity in our work

Our equality analysis process is firmly established within our Innovation Pipeline, enabling programme leads to consider innovations through an equality, diversity and inclusion lens. We completed five Equality Analyses and these were reviewed by our Expert People’s Panel, who confirmed and challenged our approach

Our Digital Health Accelerator programme this year included a cross cutting theme to address digital inclusion and health equity.

Our programmes report on how they address equalities and these are presented to the HIEM governance board.

A commitment to implementing Diversity Pledges

We continue to make progress and our latest report, the pledges and local action plan showing progress can be found here.

Stimulating inclusive innovations across our healthcare systems

Over 250 people registered for our Race Disparity and Inclusive Innovations webinar, featuring Dr Habib Naqvi, Chief Executive at the NHS Race and Health Observatory and the following inclusive innovators - Janam App, CardMedic, East Midlands InHIP and the Essential Baby Company. Our aim was to stimulate the adoption and spread of innovations that address health inequalities across our health and care system.

Investing in staff

We are building staff confidence and capability through webinars and co-delivered Innovation Insight webinars for our healthcare systems.

  • 118 people registered for our Service User Involvement in Mental Health webinar.
  • 176 people registered for the Top Tips for Engaging Black and Brown Skin Women in Healthcare, Research, and Innovation webinar.

Next Steps

We will continue to:

  • Co-deliver webinars, workshops and Innovation Insights on How to Engage Refugee and Asylum Seekers, Adults with Learning Disabilities and LGBT+ communities.
  • Collate activity and work across our programme portfolios demonstrating equity.
  • Support our Expert People’s Panel to confirm and challenge equity in our programmes.
  • Deliver workshops with a focus on equality, diversity, and inclusion topics for our staff.