Equality, diversity and inclusion

What is Equality, Diversity & Inclusion?

• Equality is about treating everybody with dignity and respect and making sure they have the same access and opportunities in life.
• Diversity is about recognising and welcoming differences in background, values, abilities and points of view.
• Inclusion is making sure everyone feels they belong. It is removing barriers and challenging discrimination so that everyone can achieve their potential.

Our commitments

We are committed to providing accessible and equitable care and to upholding our values of inclusivity, respect, and openness. We want Ashgate to be open to everyone who needs us and we are working to understand how we can improve this.

At Ashgate this means we are:

• Identifying and removing barriers so that everyone who needs us in our local community can access our services.
• Offering care that is flexible, creative and person centred.
• Encouraging and nurturing diversity in our workforce, our volunteers and our supporters, so that we fully reflect the community we serve.

Working towards a more inclusive Ashgate

In recent months, we have taken the following actions with the aim of being a fully inclusive and equitable organisation. 

• Built relationships with local community organisations who represent under-served communities such as African Caribbean Community Association, the Asian Association of Chesterfield, Derbyshire LGBT+ and Macintyre.
• Offered staff awareness sessions on neurodivergence, racism, LGBT+ inclusion and more.
• Introduced a menopause policy and support for our workforce.
• Taken action to ensure we welcome and value older workers.
• Improved data collection so we can understand where certain groups of people may be under-represented among our patients and workforce.
• Started work to improve our awareness and support for people with a disability including making our premises more accessible, and introducing inclusive recruitment processes.

Give your feedback

We have a long way to go, but we want to share our progress here. We would love to hear from you if you have thoughts, ideas or comments on equality, diversity and inclusion at Ashgate. Please get in touch with our Equality Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Liz Allam at [email protected]