• Self Assessment Toolkit for health and social care
• Guide for the NHS
• Guide for Social Care
• Achieving age equality in health and social care

Age Equality in Health and Social Care

 

Providing high quality care to people of all ages is at the heart of the principles of the health and social care system and in the White Paper Equity and excellence, liberating the NHS, the Government committed to end age discrimination in health and social care in 2012.

 

This commitment was based on the conclusions of the national review of age discrimination led by Sir Ian Carruthers, OBE, Chief Executive of NHS South West, and Jan Ormondroyd, Chief Executive of Bristol City Council.  In their report "Achieving age equality in health and social care" published in October 2009, they advised on how the health and social care sector could end age discrimination and promote age equality in the light of the provisions in the Equality Act 2010. The NHS Operating Framework for 2010-11 highlighted the need for the NHS to take account of this report and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services have endorsed the report’s recommendations and advised local authorities to use them in their work in advance of the Act coming into effect.

 

One of the recommendations of the report was to produce a resource pack to help health and social care prepare for the implementation of the Equality Act.  The pack has been developed working with experts nationally and within the South West.

 

The resource pack was launched in The Week on 7 October 2010 (Gateway Number 14855)

 

The pack has been developed with support from staff in the South West and national experts and has three component parts:

 

1 .Self assessment toolkit

A tool kit that health and social care organisations can use to work with their local stakeholders to identify what areas of work are required to end age discrimination and promote age equality and prepare an action plan to meet the requirements of the Equality Act.

 

2. A Guide for NHS commissioners and providers

This guide helps the local NHS identify the actions in order to implement the recommendations from “Achieving Age Equality.”

 

3. A Guide for Social Care

This guide has been produced by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) to help local authority Adult Social Care Departments and providers achieve age equality in the delivery of local care services.

 

You can access each component of the tool kit through the tabs on the left hand side of this page.

 

Please contact age-equality@southwest.nhs.uk if you have any specific questions about this resource pack.