The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of ten specific measures which enables the Trust to compare the workplace and career experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff. The Trust uses the data to develop and publish an action plan. Year on year comparison enables the Trust to demonstrate progress against the indicators of disability equality. Three metrics are taken form Electronic Staff Record (ESR) and the remainder are taken from the staff survey. All percentages relate to those who completed the staff survey.
1. Name of organisation
- The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
2. Date of report
- Month: May
- Year: 2023
3. Name and title of Board lead for the Workforce Disability Equality Standard
- Christine Brereton – Chief People Officer
4. Name and contact details of lead manager compiling this report
- Karen Pearce – Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (People)
5. Unique URL link on which this Report and associated Action Plan will be found
6. This report has been signed off by on behalf of the board on
- Date: 25 May 2023
- Name: Christine Brereton, Chief People Officer
Background narrative
7. Any issues of completeness of data
- A comparatively small number of unknown/null data relating to Disability of current staff remain
8. Any matters relating to reliability of comparisons with previous years
- None
9. Total number of staff employed within this organisation at the date of the report (March 2023)
- 15,943 (excluding bank and agency)
10. Proportion of Disabled staff employed within this organisation at the date of the report?
- 4.41%
11. The proportion of total staff who have self–reported their disability status?
- 84.42%
12. Have any steps been taken in the last reporting period to improve the level of self-reporting by Disability?
- Fully implemented Employee Self Service.
- Full roll out of the ESR employee portal complete.
13. Are any steps planned during the current reporting period to improve the level of self-reporting by Disability?
- Plans to use robotic automation to increase staff reporting of Disability.
14. What period does the organisation’s workforce data refer to?
- April 2022 – March 2023
Workforce Disability Equality Indicators
15. Percentage of Disabled staff in each of the Agenda for Change (AfC) bands 1-9, VSM (including executive board members), medical/dental and other staff compared with the percentage of non-disabled staff in the overall workforce
Non-Clinical Workforce 2022 and 2023 (headcount)
Clinical Workforce 2022 and 2023 (headcount)
| % Disability 2022 | % Disability 2023 | |||||
| Band | Disabled | Non-Disabled | Not Recorded | Disabled | Non-Disabled | Not Recorded |
| Band 1 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
| Band 2 | 5.55 | 80.4 | 14.02 | 6.1 | 79 | 14.9 |
| Band 3 | 3.87 | 67.78 | 28.35 | 5.15 | 71.35 | 23.5 |
| Band 4 | 4.41 | 80.52 | 15.07 | 4.21 | 81.84 | 13.96 |
| Band 5 | 4.44 | 80.46 | 15.09 | 4.75 | 83.85 | 11.4 |
| Band 6 | 3.23 | 82.26 | 14.51 | 3.94 | 84.74 | 11.32 |
| Band 7 | 2.76 | 78.76 | 18.48 | 3.09 | 81.96 | 14.95 |
| Band 8A | 2.19 | 82.24 | 15.57 | 3.01 | 83.84 | 13.15 |
| Band 8B | 0 | 80.51 | 19.49 | 0.91 | 78.18 | 20.91 |
| Band 8C | 1.96 | 76.47 | 21.57 | 6.00 | 76.00 | 18 |
| Band 8D | 0 | 81.82 | 18.18 | 0 | 77.78 | 22.22 |
| Band 9 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| VSM | 0 | 66.67 | 33.33 | 0 | 60 | 40 |
| Medical and Dental Consultants | 0.77 | 71.66 | 27.56 | 0.84 | 75.55 | 23.6 |
| Non Consultant Career Grades | 1.48 | 89.05 | 9.47 | 2.06 | 90.27 | 7.67 |
| Trainee Grades | 6.45 | 83.87 | 9.68 | 5.56 | 72.22 | 22.22 |
16. Relative likelihood of non-disabled staff compared to Disabled staff being appointed from shortlisting across all posts.
- Data for reporting year: 1.20
- Data for previous year: 1.34
Equality dashboard in place as part of the Trust’s performance management framework. It shows local directorate data referencing likelihood of appointments to enable local ownership.
17. Relative likelihood of Disabled staff compared to non-disabled staff entering the formal capability process.
- Data for reporting year: 1.13
- Data for previous year: 0.74
Trust data identifies Disabled staff members are 1.13 times more likely to enter formal capability processes
Employee relations data forms part of the equality dashboard launched in January 2022
18. Percentage of Disabled staff compared to non-disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse in the last 12 months from patients, service users or the public
- Data for reporting year: Non-disabled 24% Disabled: 32.6%
- Data for previous reporting year: Non-disabled 25.3% Disabled: 31.8%
19. Percentage of Disabled staff compared to non-disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse in the last 12 months from a line manager.
- Data for reporting year: Non-disabled 7.3% Disabled 15.8%
- Data for previous year: Non-disabled 8.7% Disabled 14.8%
20. Percentage of Disabled staff compared to non-disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse in the last 12 months from other colleagues.
- Data for reporting year: Non-disabled 16.5% Disabled 27%
- Data for previous year: Non-disabled 16.8% Disabled 26.4%
21. Percentage of staff who reported harassment, bullying or abuse the latest time it happened.
- Data for reporting year: Non-disabled 47.1% Disabled 44.8%
- Data for previous year: Non-disabled 44.1% Disabled 45.5%
22. Percentage of Disabled staff compared to non-disabled staff believing that the trust provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion
- Data for reporting year: Non-disabled 63.5% Disabled 56.5
- Data for previous year: Non-disabled 62.4% Disabled 55.8%
23. Percentage of staff who have felt pressure from their manager to come to work despite not feeling well enough to perform duties.
- Data for reporting year: Non-disabled 21.8% Disabled 32.4%
- Data for previous year: Non-disabled 23.6% Disabled 31.2%
24. Percentage of staff satisfied with the extent to which their organisation values their work
- Data for reporting year: Non-disabled 43.1% Disabled 30.9%
- Data for previous year: Non-disabled 42.2% Disabled 32.4%
25. Percentage of disabled staff who said their employer has made adequate adjustments to enable them to carry out their work.
- Data for reporting year: 76.8%
- Data for previous year 72.5%
Staff Engagement
- Data for reporting year: Non-disabled 6.9% Disabled 6.5%
- Data for previous year: Non-disabled 7% Disabled 6.5%
27. Percentage difference between the organisations’ Board voting membership and its overall workforce
- Data for reporting year: Non-disabled -13% DISABLED – 4%
28. Are there any other factors or data which should be taken into consideration in assessing progress?
- No
29. Organisations should produce a detailed WDES action plan, agreed by its board. It is good practice for this action plan to be published on the organisation’s website, alongside their WDES data. Such a plan would elaborate on the actions summarised in this report, setting out the next steps with milestones for expected progress against the WDES indicators. It may also identify the links with other work streams agreed at board level, such as EDS2. You are asked to provide a link to your WDES action plan in the space below.
Organisational Priorities Going Forward
Of the 10 indicators there has been some small positive improvements within indicator 5 – disabled staff believing the Trist provides equal opportunities for career progression and indicator 2 relating to the likelihood of disabled staff being appointed from shortlisting. Whilst welcome the Trust still has some significant challenges in relation to some of the indicators and specifically for some staff groups. Despite initiatives, WDES data still identifies some areas that are concerning for the Trust specifically around:
Culture/behaviours
Indicator 6 (percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff in last 12 months) and Indicator 8 (percentage of staff experiencing discrimination at work from a manager/team leader or other colleagues).
The People Priorities work for 2023/24 will be linked directly to the NHS People Promise aimed at improving staff experience and retention. It is evident from the WDES data that there needs to be some specific focus around cultural awareness, race and disability discrimination.
One of the seven People Promise indicators is that “We are Compassionate and Inclusive” and we will work directly with our Enabled Network Group and hold focus groups directly with staff to understand what actions we need to take to improve staff experience for Disabled colleagues. We will develop a specific action plan with time bound actions. This may include training in cultural awareness, case studies, learning and education, just and learning culture approach and where appropriate taking more formal action.
In addition, through further development of the data /dashboard we will look to identify hotspot areas through the newly developed clinical boards and introduce intense Organisational Development (OD) support as necessary.
Empowering Staff Networks
Formalise Executive Sponsorship of the staff networks.
- Training for staff network Chairs and Co-Chair – stage two of this training aims to take the staff networks to the next level to promote more of the system 2 working within the staff network group.
- A self-led programme for Executive Sponsors to elevate network impact.
- A maturity report/development session to provide the Trust with a deeper understanding of where our networks are in terms of progressions, strengths and gaps.
Report of Karen Pearce
Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (People)
15 May 2023
