Fairness first: setting out our commitments to inclusion
We have published our new WeBelong strategy!
Our shared Barts Health commitment to fairness first — to ensuring inclusion and equity — inspired the launch of our WeBelong strategy in November 2020, in the wake of George Floyd, Sarah Everard, and the stark inequalities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. I thank every member of the Barts Health family for the care, thoughtfulness, and commitment you each bring to ensuring WeBelong is the way we work around here.
Much of the progress we’ve made happens quietly and steadily, shaping a culture of belonging and fairness across our group of hospitals. I’m deeply privileged and grateful to work with colleagues like you who stay engaged with this work, even when it is complex or uncomfortable. I recognise it’s not likely to get easier, either, as the whole concept of equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives comes under scrutiny and is sometimes used to sow division and discord among different cultures.
In a world where freedom and fairness remain under threat, it is time to renew our organisational commitment to fairness first — ensuring that inclusion and equity remain the golden thread running through all our endeavours to heal and care; through the broader work of our people, quality and partnerships portfolios; and fully integrated into our group clinical strategy. For there is no patient safety without psychological safety; no true staff wellbeing without inclusion; and no quality of care without equity of outcomes.
We are guided by three fundamental principles that underpinned WeBelong from the outset;
- inclusive and compassionate leadership, including our vibrant and influential staff networks and patient communities;
- the strengthening of a fair, just and restorative organisational culture;
- and the commitment to fairness and equity for our staff and for the patients and communities we serve.
Supporting our people — ensuring that we all belong — better equips us to connect in service of our shared purpose. That is to deliver inclusive, equitable, high-quality, safe, and compassionate care for all our patients in one of the most diverse, and in parts most socio-economically deprived, areas of the country.
We remain steadfast in our commitment to fairness because, instinctively, it matters to us all. Addressing the needs of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged matters. This is not primarily about identity, though an appreciation of difference and diversity
Racism - including antisemitism and Islamophobia - misogyny, homophobia and all forms of prejudice and hatred are pathogens that must be eradicated if we, as modern-day Samaritans, are to repair the Jericho Road. Intersectionality and allyship matter deeply in this work.
So, we now bring renewed vigour to WeBelong as a movement — one that connects the many pillars of our work across staff inclusion, patient engagement, community partnership, public health, equity, education and training, and our anchor role as an organisation. It goes hand-in-hand with our approach to continuous quality improvement, WeImprove, as the core of an emerging quality management system that will drive transformation in every aspect of our work.
Our renewed strategy shows how and why the pursuit of equity, diversity and inclusion remain fundamental for our staff, our patients, and our partners in the local healthcare system.
May the years ahead bring us all renewed energy and joy in our work, enabling us collectively to build a more inclusive, equitable and kind organisation, in service of our patients and communities.