Future changes to Equality Data ... ... ... ...
ESR enables the recording and reporting of data to help organisations demonstrate compliance with equality legislation.
It also assists in comparing the experiences of staff in the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) and Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES), and in determining action where necessary.
Current position
Where data items and values exist within the NHS National Workforce Dataset (NWD) they will be reflected in ESR. If a data item is not currently within the NWD then the values used in ESR will have been determined through consultation with user groups and appropriate stakeholders.
The data items and values currently available in ESR for some of the protected characteristics do not entirely satisfy all users and we have received a number of requests to add, remove or change them.
Are there plans to change the Equality and Diversity details recorded in ESR?
NHS England/Improvement (NHS E/I) are currently leading on a review of all protected characteristics which could result in a Unified Information Standard for Protected Characteristics (UISPC) or a number of separate information standards. This review covers data sets used across the NHS in relation to both the workforce and to patients. It is anticipated that the recommendations, if accepted, will be incorporated into the National Workforce Dataset at which point we will ensure they are reflected within ESR.
Will changes be made to ESR ahead of the wider review?
Although it would be possible to implement changes to the values in ESR independently of NHS E/I’s review to satisfy user requests, there is a high risk that any such changes would be rendered obsolete when that review is complete. So at present there are no plans for ESR to implement changes ahead of the published review outcomes.
Next steps
Once agreed, any changes to the data items or values will be incorporated into the National Workforce Data Set and ESR will be updated to comply with them.
In order to minimise delay NHS Digital have indicated that they may allow systems such as ESR to implement the required changes whilst the process to formally publish a revised National Workforce Dataset is underway. This approach was recently taken with the introduction of the Sexual Orientation Monitoring Standard.
NHS Digital will publish formal announcements regarding changes to the data sets on their website. Users of ESR will be advised of changes and implementation dates through the usual channels including Release Notices and User Group meetings.