Equality, Diversity and Patient Focus
Health Scotland is committed to considering the diverse needs of our population, to avoid discrimination and promote equality in all of its work. Public involvement is fundamental to delivering a more patient-focussed service and is essential to promoting equality and diversity.
Our Patient Focus and Public Involvement (PFPI) framework, which covers not only PFPI in its narrowest sense but also our approach to promoting equality and diversity, outlines this in more detail.
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Working with partners and the public
Race, Disability and Gender Equality schemes
Impact assessments
Current Health Scotland consultations
Health Scotland responses to consultations
Working with partners and the public
Health Scotland has a strong commitment to involving the public and our partners in the planning and delivery of our work.
This is central to achieving our aims of improving health in Scotland and tackling health inequalities across the whole population.
Our Patient Focus and Public Involvement Framework outlines how we will work with a wide variety of others to take forward this agenda in a meaningful and practical way.
Our framework includes all issues concerning the importance of considering the diverse needs of our population, to avoid discrimination and promote equality in all of our work.
As part of our commitment to consult with partners and the wider public, we welcome comments and feedback on our current framework. Please contact Katy Hetherington with any comments or feedback on our framework – katy.hetherington@health.scot.nhs.uk.
Race, Disability and Gender Equality schemes
The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, which strengthened the Race Relations Act 1976, places a general duty to promote race equality on most public authorities, including Health Scotland.
One of the specific duties in the Act is to publish a Race Equality Scheme. Our Race Equality Scheme has recently been updated and sets out our commitment to promoting diversity and the actions we will take over the next three years to ensure this.
Race Equality Scheme
Disability equality
A new disability equality duty was introduced in the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. The Duty came into force on December 4th 2006. Our Disability Equality Scheme outlines how we will meet the duties under the Act and keep improving disability equality. We would welcome your comments and suggestions on our Scheme. Disability Equality Scheme
Our Disability Equality Annual Report 2007 summarises what we've done in the last year to progress disability equality. As part of our duty to report on progress, we've provided a summary of the steps we have taken to fulfil the duty, as well as the information we have gathered and what we have done with that information. If you have any comments relating to this summary, please contact eitherKaty Hetherington or Nick Hay.
Gender equality
We welcome the introduction of the Gender Equality Duty on 6 April 2007 and are pleased to publish our first Gender Equality Scheme which was formally approved by our Board on 28th September 2007. We are determined to:
• Eliminate unlawful discrimination and
harassment
• Promote equality of opportunity between
men and women
We are committed to meeting the different needs of men and women, including transsexuals, and to overcoming gender health inequalities across Scotland. As Scotland’s national health improvement organisation, we are working hard to improve health and reduce health inequalities.
Our Equal Pay Statement is also now available, subject to formal approval from our Board on 28th September 2007 and will be incorporated into our Gender Equality Scheme.
If you would like to provide any comments or suggestions please email Katy Hetherington or telephone Katy on 0131 536 8780 to discuss alternative ways to provide your feedback.
Impact assessments
Current legislation on race and disability discrimination requires public bodies to publish regular assessments of the impact of their policies and functions on equality groups. This will also be the case under the new gender equality duty.
Cervical and Breast Cancer Screening Resources
Current Health Scotland consultations
We are always looking for more creative and effective ways to consult with our partners and the public on our work. We will always provide details of any current consultations and how to take part here.
If you would like to find out more about any particular consultation, we'll be pleased to give you any further information you may require. To do this, please contact the relevant member of staff.
We have recently published a working draft of our first Gender Equality Scheme. We would value your feedback and comments. You may wish to use our Response Form
Details about how to respond to consultations are contained in the relevant consultation document.
Health Scotland responses to consultations
Health Scotland responds to external consultations undertaken by bodies including the Scottish Executive, the UK Government and other NHS Health Boards.
As our responses to consultations from external agencies become available, we will publish them here.