Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – equality delivery system

Everyone should be treated fairly when using or working for the NHS

We use the ‘Equality Delivery System’ to ensure our work as an Integrated Care Board (ICB) is fair and does not discriminate against any group. The Equality Delivery System describes four goals for NHS organisations.

EDS four NHS goals:

1. To achieve better health outcomes for all
2. To improve patient access and experience
3. To maintain a representative and supported workforce
4. To promote inclusive leadership.

The Equality Delivery System (EDS) is a tool which helps us ensure our organisation is fair when planning and commissioning services . There are 18 outcomes under these four goals which describe how NHS services should be. We need to ensure that we achieve these four goals for everyone, which means in some cases carrying out additional work to do so.

This work is ongoing throughout the year. For example, we recently purchased a hearing loop for use when holding public meetings. This improves access to information for deaf patients, carers and the public and enables full participation in our work.

Once a year, we produce an EDS Evidence and Grading report which describes the work we have done and we grade ourselves to clearly show how well we are progressing towards these goals. 

We also ask patients, carers and members of the public to give their feedback on how well they think we are doing and use this to inform our final grading. Please contact us using the details below to find out how you could give your feedback.

View more information about the Equality Delivery System.

EDS Group

In conjunction with Somerset’s NHS providers, we have a virtual EDS group which is used to share ideas and initiatives.