NHS drive to promote equal opportunities

NHS staff from black and ethnic minority backgrounds have been sharing their experiences of working in Lincolnshire at a countywide conference.

Anna Kusztyb works across the county for Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS), and was among those speaking at the third annual Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) conference on Friday afternoon.

The event, which is run in partnership between LCHS, Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, celebrated work promoting equal access and fair treatment in the workplace from the last year, as well as giving opportunity to consider feedback and areas of focus for 2018/19.

Anna, who moved to Lincolnshire from Poland in 2005, helps to support communities to understand which services are available to them and how to access them appropriately.

Anna, who is also BME Staff Network chair at LCHS, said: “I feel very privileged to have been able to help LCHS launch its BME Staff Network over the last year.

“I love to work with people and this work is about helping everyone to be identified and treated as an individual, rather than being identified by one or more of the nine protected characteristics, such as age, sex, gender, religion or belief.

“I hope by sharing my positive experiences, it will encourage more people to come forward to support our work.”

Other speakers at the event at The Showroom in Lincoln included Yvonne Coghill, director of WRES implementation at NHS England and Marie Gabriel, Chairperson of East London NHS Foundation Trust.

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