Background
Cumbria, Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust wanted to improve inclusivity and Health and well-being at work. They specifically commissioned a Disabled Persons Organisation to train their staff and develop a staff resource for disabled employees and their line managers.
How we helped
For the training, we worked with senior managers from the trust to develop a training package that would suit their needs, increasing the skill levels of the managers in disability awareness and equality, including reasonable adjustments. The staff resource was co-produced with the active disabled staff network and responded to their needs on a range of different levels, from presenting alternative narratives about disability, giving instructions on reasonable adjustments and providing a range of examples.
Impact
Both disabled and non-disabled staff now feel more confident about how they access and ask for reasonable adjustments at work. There has been an increased use of disabled staff passports and line managers feel better equipped to raise discussions about staff disability.
What they said
Cumbria, Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust said:
Difference collaborated with us to develop a package that met our needs and delivered extremely thought-provoking training sessions that led to lively discussions and a chance to put theory into practice through work on a case study. The sessions were evaluated well.
The disability toolkits were launched in May 2024 and in the first few months were accessed over 1000 times and have gone on to be recognised as good practice at a national level.