Equality and Diversity

Statement of Purpose

The Scottish Ambulance Service is committed to a continuous and sustainable approach to delivering a Service that reflects the mixed communities and population of Scotland – now and in the future. This is based in sound process and measurable outcomes to ensure that our equality and diversity vision is embedded and confirming that it is non-negotiable.

In order to achieve a Scottish Ambulance Service that is “Fair for All” (SEHD 2002) and delivers on our equality and diversity obligations, our vision is to continually:

• Demonstrate our leadership and commitment to the values and principles of equality and diversity and create the culture where they are seen as the norm.
• Make it our personal responsibility to understand and meet the individual needs of people who access our services if at all possible.
• Listen to feedback from individuals who have found our existing services to be unfair, or are offering ways in which we can improve and learn.
• Respect and value all patients, carers, advocates and members of the public, as well as our own colleagues and their contribution.
• Provide the necessary support, advice and information to help all of our staff.
• Ensure that people are recruited, trained and promoted according to their abilities and in the proportions one would expect from the populations represented.
• Attempt to gain the views of minority groups and involve them in future service design (see also our closely linked PFPI activities).

Delivery is via all our staff, working together to achieve an annually adjusted delivery plan. We also have an "Involving People Group" to guide us, as well as a Reducing Health Inequalities Project team, as part of our Delivering for Health programme. Equality & Diversity implementation is monitored and coordinated by an Equality & Diversity Steering Group who use suitable impact assessment tools. We are also be informed by many external agencies and are open to inspection by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland and the three Scottish Commissions – Equal Opportunities, Disability Rights and Racial Equality under the various general and specific duties.

As we are a national Service with a local feel, we have six operating divisions covering all of Scotland delivering a range of services from the publicly accessible Accident & Emergency Service, through to our clinically authorised Patient Transport Service - irrespective of background and free at the point of contact. These services are delivered locally and very much integrated with other local agencies including the Health Boards, Local Authorities and volunteer groups.

Over coming years, we aim to continually ensure that our staff population reflects the broad range of Scottish communities and to further develop our engagement and awareness of increasingly diverse needs.

If you are a member of the public, our staff or a Service user/ carer and you want to be involved in what we are doing, please contact the following person who can either put you in touch with a local manager, or provide further information (including a summary in other languages, audiotape, another format or braille):

We would particularly welcome comment or support from an identified minority group, either individually or collectively.

You may also find help by contacting the NHS Helpline on 0800 22 44 88 or NHS 24 on 08454 24 24 24 (textphone 18001 08454 24 24 24).

Further helpful contacts and links (SEHD 2004):

Useful Documents

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