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Equality, diversity, inclusion

We recognise that our patients and our members of staff come from many ethnic, religious, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, and will vary in their health, experiences, beliefs, genders and sexualities. Inclusion is a key aspect of the CUH strategy and is important from the moment that someone applies to work at the Trust.

Non-urgent advice: LGBT+: Trans and non-binary people inclusion

Cambridge University Hospitals is fully committed to supporting our trans and non-binary patients and staff alongside the wider LGBT+ community. We strive to ensure a safe, kind and excellent environment for everyone receiving care from us, and an inclusive workplace for all colleagues, where people feel they belong in the CUH family and can bring their whole selves to work. To strengthen this work CUH are a Stonewall Diversity Champion.

With increasing public and media discourse about the rights of trans and non-binary people, CUH is clear that we will not accept any discrimination, victimisation, harassment, hostility or aggression towards our staff because of their gender identity.

Working in the NHS can be enormously rewarding. It can also be challenging, without also feeling the need to hide who you are or try to conform to society’s norms of gender expression. Our staff perform at their best, delivering the best care and services and supporting each other, when they feel safe at work to be themselves without fear of stigma or rejection, and when they are treated with respect.

We also know that health outcomes for the LGBT+ community are significantly worse than other parts of the population and we remain committed to providing the best possible healthcare and tackling health inequalities.

We recognise that issues of identity and beliefs can be complex and can provoke strong feelings and discussion. We must all take personal responsibility for ensuring that our trans and non-binary staff and patients are treated with dignity, respect and compassion. We encourage open conversations with an appetite to learn and improve to enable us to provide the best possible healthcare and workplace environment.

Logos from the left: National NHS personal fair diverse champion, Carer Friendly Employers Tick, Diverse inclusive together and Stonewall Silver Award 2024.

all equal | all different | all individual

We are committed to eliminating discrimination and ensuring equality in care and continue to embed our equality and diversity values into our policies, procedures and everyday practice.

Equality in the NHS

Under the Equality Act 2010 (opens in a new tab), NHS organisations have what is called a general equality duty. In practice this means that we must:

  • eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by the Equality Act
  • advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
  • foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not share it.

These are underpinned by the Public Sector Equality Duty which requires us to:

  • publish information annually to show our compliance with the equality duty
  • set and publish equality objectives, at least every four years

Disability: Workplace Adjustments

Every person with a disability, health condition or neurodiversity who attends our hospitals, whether as a patient, member of staff or a visitor, should find their experience as positive as that of a non-disabled person. Making changes for people in the built environment, in how we do things, or communicate, is known by the government as making 'reasonable adjustments.' At CUH we refer to these as ‘workplace adjustments’ and have a centralised workplace adjustments budget to ensure all staff can apply for the adjustments they need. Alongside this, we also have our Purple Passport – a health and wellbeing passport to discuss and note any needs colleagues have that may affect their work.

If you think you may need any kind of adjustment when visiting our hospitals in person for an interview, please contact refer to your invitation to interview where the appropriate contact will be listed.

You may find it helpful to visit our accessibility page.

Carer friendly employer

Around 24% of our staff have reported caring responsibilities outside work. Balancing work and personal life was agreed by CUH as part of the wider NHS People Promise work strand and the Trust wants to do all it can to support these staff and prioritise wellbeing. Caring takes its toll emotionally and physically. We applied for the Carer Friendly Tick Award to assure current and future staff that CUH is a compassionate, supportive and flexible employer and that managers are carer-aware and will do their best to support their team members who care.

Stonewall Diversity Champion

We know that people perform best when they can be their true selves in the workplace. We want to create a CUH where everyone is welcomed and valued.

One measure of how well we’re doing this for our LGBT+ colleagues is the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. This year’s results have been published today and we’re pleased to have been granted a Silver Award, and improved our ranking to 160 out of 246 organisations.

We’re pleased to see improvements in the marks awarded for the employee lifecycle, LGBT+ employee network group, empowering individuals, and leadership.

We know there is more we need to do, with the report particularly highlighting our policies and benefits, alongside recognising specific support for individual sexualities and genders rather than LGBT+ as a singular theme/group.

We’re developing an action plan with the learnings from the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, which will guide our work throughout 2024/2025. There is a very strong commitment to doing better, with everyone at CUH playing a role in positive change – not only for our LGBT+ colleagues, but for all of our communities.

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