Outcome A1

Increase the number of people in our workforce who identify as having a Protected Characteristic of:

• Race
• Disability

Diversification of our workforce

Over the past 4 years our organisation has witnessed an evolution in the demographic diversity of our 
workforce. This is particularly applicable to the Protected Characteristic of Race. Between 2021 and 
2024, the proportion of ethnic minority staff has increased from 6.6% to 9.4%. This is largely due to the 
International Nurse Recruitment programme which welcomed nurses from countries including India, 
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Philippines, Kuwait, Zambia, Malaysia, Iran, and 
Egypt.

NHS Golden Jubilee features second in the league table of ethnic minority staff as a percentage of the 
overall workforce (9.4%), behind NHS Education for Scotland (NES) with 14.3%.

With regards to our disabled workforce, there was a small increase in the number of staff with a 
disclosed disability from 1.4% in 2021 to 1.5% in 2024.

Given that circa 25% of the Scottish population has a disability or long term illness, it is assumed that 
the actual number of disabled staff will be much higher. Within our next set of Equality Outcomes, 
we will implement additional measures to encourage more staff to feel confident and comfortable to 
disclose a disability or long term health condition and enable them to be their authentic selves in the 
workplace.

GCIL Equality Academy Graduate Trainee Programme

NHSGJ has been an active member of the GCIL Professional Careers programme since the scheme was 
established in 2014, onboarding a total of 5 disabled graduates across a variety of departments within 
the organisation in a role that aligns with the candidates skillsets and career goal aspirations. 

This opportunity provides immeasurable benefits to both the graduate trainee and NHSGJ as we 
embrace the valuable contribution that diversity brings to the workplace. Following completion of their 
placements, all graduate trainees have secured permanent employment with a selection of public and 
private organisations including NHS Golden Jubilee.

We welcomed the latest graduate trainee in February 2024 for a 2-year placement in our Learning and 
Organisational Development team.

Introducing new inclusive recruitment processes

We recognise the benefits that diversity brings to the workplace environment and are committed to 
cultivating a workforce that reflects the diverse society of Scotland we serve. To achieve this goal, we 
have focused our attention on the initial stage of the employee lifecycle, centering on the advertisement 
and interview process.

We actively embrace the values associated with our Disability Confident Leader status and have 
introduced additional information for disabled candidates on application packs around the Reasonable 
Adjustment process. 

Additionally, our recruitment team has developed new guidance for hiring managers focusing on the 
importance of establishing diverse interview panels. We understand the benefit that different life 
experiences and intersectionality of Protected Characteristics brings during the interview and selection 
process and have issued new guidance to hiring managers to request that diversity of panel members is 
taken into consideration to reduce any potential unconscious bias.

New exit interview process

NHS Golden Jubilee is committed to creating an inclusive workplace environment where everyone feels 
valued and respected. With a mission to on-board diverse talent to the organisation, this is of particular 
importance for our staff from underrepresented backgrounds. Parallel work streams are underway to 
obtain data and commence trend analysis with a focus on Race and Disability. The findings will inform 
future work focused on staff retention. 

Executive Leads for Protected Characteristics

By embedding the ethos of equality at a senior leadership level, we will continue to promote, endorse, 
and commemorate the diversity within society, building on our strengths and raising the profile of 
previously underrepresented groups.

We have established Executive Leads to represent the 9 Protected Characteristics and Fairer Scotland 
Duty. We have also strengthened the role that Executive Directors play in embedding cultural change 
by assigning each leader to champion a staff diversity network. Directors will engage with their 
respective network to understand the viewpoint of underrepresented staff and address any issues 
that are identified. Directors will also undertake training to further expand their knowledge base and 
transition towards becoming subject matter experts in their field

Revised Diversity and Inclusion governance 

In order to establish a more holistic approach to embedding the diversity and inclusion agenda across 
the organisation, the existing Equalities Group has now been renamed as the Diversity and Inclusion 
Group with a revised Terms of Reference (TOR) and new governance structure.  The Diversity and 
Inclusion Group meets every 8 weeks and provides representation across all divisions and departments 
to actively engage, identify and address inequalities in addition to the oversight of delivery of the 
equality outcomes. 

Chairs of our staff networks also attend to capture key discussion points with the intention to deliver 
proactive and considered outcomes to reduce inequality within the workforce. 

Diversity and Inclusion Intranet and website pages

The NHS Golden Jubilee staff intranet pages have been redesigned to reflect our new vision to 
delivering the equalities agenda. We have removed individual Protected Characteristic pages, instead 
adopting an intersectional approach to accurately reflect the reality of personal circumstances. The 
simplified pages now focus on the 5 key themes of staff networks, equality impact assessments, 
diversity strategies, reasonable adjustments, and initiatives. In addition, the visualisations have been 
updated to showcase the diversity of talent within the organisation

Mainstreaming Equalities Report 2021 – 2025