CSection 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 came into effect on 1 January 2000. This placed duties on the Trust to promote equality of opportunity between:
- Persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation
- Men and women generally
- Persons with a disability and persons without
- Persons with dependants and persons without
These are commonly referred to as the nine equality categories. The Trust is also required to promote good relations between persons of different religious beliefs, political opinion and racial groups, including Irish Travellers.
What this means for the Trust?
The Trust must consider the nine equality categories when making decisions and must consult with all those affected. This includes decisions about the services we provide, the procurement of services and the employment of staff. This means that the Trust must make sure that service users and staff receive fair treatment and services are accessible to everyone.
The Trust must:
- Produce a revised Equality Scheme
- Submit Annual Reports to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) detailing the Scheme is being implemented
- Review its Scheme regularly
- Assess all policies to find out how they will impact on the nine equality categories.
CLICK HERE to access the Public Authority Statutory Equality and Good Relations Duties Annual Progress Report 2022-2023
Equality and Disability Action Plans
South Eastern Trust, in partnership with the four other Health and Social Care Trusts in the region and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, have worked collaboratively on the development of their new five year Disability Action Plan and Equality Action Plan (2024-29) which outline actions and initiatives to address section 75 inequalities, improve equality of opportunity, promote positive attitudes for disabled people and improve their participation in public life.
The actions in the Plans have been shaped by an audit of inequalities, engagement with experts by experience and key stakeholders and formal consultation. The Consultation Feedback Report details how the feedback we received shaped the Plans.
The Trust looks forward to working in partnership to ensure there is regional consistency across all the Trusts, resources are maximised and best practice is shared. The Trust would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the Plans.
The Trust will report annually on our progress against the Plans via our S75 Annual Progress Report to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI), which is submitted at the end of August each year and is available on the website or by contacting the Trust Equality Team.
Section 75 Action Based Plan
The Trust’s Action Based Plan 2018-2023, to promote equality of opportunity and good relations, is based on the ‘functions’ of the Trust and will be implemented through the Framework of the Trust’s Equality Scheme. The Plan aims to address inequalities in health and social care for all of the S75 categories – men, women, persons with and without a disability, persons with or without dependants, persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation.
This Plan was approved in March 2018 by EMT and Trust Board and is for a five year period 2018 to 2023. This Plan is in addition to the commitments set out in the Trust’s Equality Scheme and the Trust’s dual responsibilities to promote equality of opportunity and good relations which are interdependent and complementary to one another.
Please click on the appropriate link below:
SET Equality Action Plan 24 – 29
SET Equality Action Plan Easy Read 24
Consultation Feedback Report 24 29 EAP DAP
Disability Action Plan
In March 2018 the Trust Board approved the Disability Action Plan which covers the five year period up to 31/03/2023. This Plan details how the Trust promotes positive attitudes towards disabled people and encourages their participation in Public Life. The Trust carried out a twelve week consultation on this Plan and the Consultation Outcome Report is included below.
Please click on the appropriate link below:
SET Disability Action Plan 24 – 29
SET Disability Action Plan Easy Read 24
Consultation Feedback Report 24 29 EAP DAP
Making Communication Accessible to All – A Guide for Health and Social Care Staff
All Health and Social Care staff are committed to improving people’s health and social care and to make sure that people can understand the information they are given about their health and social care.
This guide will assist you to make sure that people get the support with communication that they need, for example through having a British Sign Language (BSL) or Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpreter to advocate for them.
Please click the link below to access the document:
Making Communication Accessible for All Guidance
Equality, Good Relations and Human Rights – A Training Manual for Staff
Please click on the link below to view the Equality Training Manual which is designed as a resource to complement the equality training programme.
Equality, Good Relations and Human Rights – A Training Manual for Staff
Access to Health and Social Care Booklet
The Access to Health and Social Care Booklet has been revised and translated into a number of languages.
This resource will be useful to staff who are working with patients and clients who require information in their first language and will inform them about health and social care services and how to access them. As a Trust, we want to ensure that everyone receives a service which meets their individual needs.
This Booklet is available in the following languages, click through to whichever language applies to you:
For further information please contact Cathal.Reid@setrust.hscni.net
