Equality Impact Assessment
NHS Tayside is required by law to assess the impact of policies, practices and functions on people with a Protected Characteristic(s) and equality groups and are held to account for equality implications at the point of making decisions.
Equality and Human Rights legislation protects the rights and position of population groups known to be disadvantaged in mainstream society and provides a better tool for better and more transparent decision making, including financial decisions.
Consideration of equality underpins all of the ambitions of the Healthcare Quality Strategy, Person Centred, Safe and Effective.
Equality Impact Assessment Process
The Equality Impact Assessment process covers 4 key areas of impact for equality groups and people with protected characteristic(s):
- the equality and diversity impact
- the human rights impact
- the health inequalities impact
- the impact assessment of financial decisions
Equality Impact Policy
The Equality Impact Assessment policy will define the process by which NHS Tayside will assess the impact of their policies, functions, service improvement and or service change on people with a Protected Characteristic(s).
The Equality Impact Assessment is intended to highlight potential health and wellbeing and impacts on equality groups and / or people with Protected Characteristic(s) based on the knowledge and understanding of the stakeholders who participate. This then helps to identify any ways in which the policy or service improvement / redesign should be changed to address any adverse impact or barriers that may be identified for Protected Characteristic(s), equality groups / communities and socio-economically deprived / poverty groups.
Steps to Better Healthcare Equality Impact Assessments
Steps to Better Healthcare projects are about IMPROVEMENT: improving health, improving patients' experience, and improving cost efficiency. They include work as diverse as Releasing Time to Care, e-Rostering, Procurement, Medicines Leadership, Optimising Capacity, Electronic Patient Records, Travel Bureau, Chronic Pain & MSK Pathways, Discharge Pathway, Leading Better Care, HR and the Transport Review.
