Agenda item

The report of the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board summarised that Leeds has an ambition to be the best place to train and work in at any age. We have a health and care workforce that is highly motivated, creative and caring, working together to deliver high-quality care and improve health outcomes in Leeds. A key part of achieving this ambition is creating ‘an inclusive, valued and well-trained workforce’. This is highlighted as one of the 12 priorities in the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2023-2030.

The report of the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board summarised that Leeds had an ambition to be the best place to train and work in at any age. Leeds had a health and care workforce that was highly motivated, creative and caring, working together to deliver high quality care and improve health outcomes in Leeds. A key part of achieving this ambition was creating ‘an inclusive, valued and well - trained workforce’. This was highlighted as one of the 12 priorities in the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2023 -2030.

In attendance for this item were:

• Nadeem Siddique - Head of Community Relations and Cohesion, Leeds City Council
• Geoff Turnbull - Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Manager, Leeds City Council
• Mahreen Hussain - West Yorkshire Police (WYP)
• David Ball – WYP

The Chair introduced the item, noting it had been brought to the Board in response to the disorder and civil unrest that had occurred across the country over summer 2024. It was a priority for Health and Care system leaders to ensure staff felt valued, well trained, and supported in light of increased abuse directed towards care providers and in line with the NHS Freedom to Speak Up policy and Guardian roles. Whilst patients had a right to access health and care services, there was a need to ensure there was a balance of care provision and staff welfare.

The following information was highlighted to Board Members by the Head of Community Relations and Cohesion and the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Manager:

·  The incidents in Southport had led to a significant scale of disorder across the UK, with rising racism and anti-Muslim hatred.

·  The Government had promoted social cohesion and resilience to extremism to enable support of front line workers and their capacity to safely address social unrest.

·  Data for increases in hate crime were significant, however, many incidents were unreported.  Work was to focus on preventing these incidents and improving public confidence in services.

·  A Social Cohesion Strategy was in development, with a key priority being to allow safe spaces for dialogue, to support staff by listening to lived experience and also for alternative views to be discussed.

·  As part of the Council’s equality agenda, preventative methods against the discrimination of protected characteristics were linked to the Anti-Social Behaviour Team and Safer, Stronger Communities.

·  A Hate Crime Strategy had been developed with relevant partners, such as WYP, and was governed by a robust process, including the Leeds Hate Crime Strategic Board, chaired by Councillor M Harland (Executive Member for Communities, Customer Service and Community Safety) which supported the Hate Crime Operational Group.

·  A Hate Crime Officer had been appointed in the Council, that would liaise with WYP and support improved reporting capacity, such as third party reporting through Community Hubs and identifying high risk areas.

·  There were improved methods for reporting hate crimes or incidents online and also engagement with schools had been conducted by Stop Hate UK, a charity raising awareness to all forms of discrimination.

·  Prevention was integral to addressing hate, with whole cycle support needed for victims and better education and rehabilitation for perpetrators. An anti-discrimination campaign will be launched in December 2024, linking to health care providers and the NHS (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) EDI improvement plans.

The following information was outlined by WYP Officers in attendance:

·  Other areas in the UK had suffered more significant levels of hate crime and far right protests. Moreover, hate crime reports had doubled in Leeds since the events in Southport and there were issues of public confidence and trust in services and responsible authorities.

·  In addition, the disorder which occurred in Harehills was also highlighted as part of a wider context of recent events which had affected communities across the city.

·  Strategic community engagement had been implemented to offer reassurance that WYP will act and had a duty of care to respond accordingly to reports, incidents and crimes.

·  Responses to hate incidents occurring in care settings were coordinated with health and care leadership and front line staff.

·  A specific example was highlighted where in response to an issue of a racially abusive patient at the Leeds General Infirmary, the Neighbourhood Policing Team were carrying out investigations and a meeting between WYP and hospital staff had been held to promote awareness, support victims and share information regarding how to report incidents.

·  A Liaison Officer was appointed to address crimes in hospital settings and assisted in determining appropriate action, with some patients having conditions which may limit mental capacity.

The Board discussed the following matters, outlining the response of their associated department or organisation:

• Children’s and Families – With staff members being ethnically diverse, the rise in racism and hate crime was not only a professional issue but also a personal issue. Safe spaces for conversations had been provided, with further support options raised with Human Resources (HR). As there were direct consequences upon the service responsibilities for social care visits, management needed to be mindful of staff safety. Feedback from schools noted there was some anxiety from children and parents as they began the new school year, with different views of parents feeding into the outlook and views of some children. Campaigning and wider system support was required to stand up for young people, and staff, with consideration of the vulnerable nature of looked after children and young asylum seekers in Leeds.
• Public Health – The Council’s Corporate Leadership Team had developed a consistent approach to support staff and reduce feelings of isolation. Front line services were delivered in partnership with the NHS and the third sector, so a joined up response was needed, to create a clear message from leadership to ensure staff felt considered, to create safe listening spaces and to tailor support for individuals given the varied needs and experiences of staff.
• Adults and Health – Listening Circles were established to discuss the experiences of staff. Action was taken to scale up risk assessments. Health and safety training had been provided for the work place and also for staff working alone conducting social care visits in order to outline reporting processes and provide advice on staff concerns; an online violence and aggression toolkit had also been offered. There was a duty to devise a streamlined corporate response across the health and care system.
• ICB – Most of the ICB staff were not in public facing roles, so the response was largely based on leadership communications, with line managers encouraged to allow safe spaces for open discussion. Two sessions had been held for all staff members to share their experiences and reinforce the message against islamophobia. Dame Donna Kinnair had been requested to review the progress and recommendations of her report, commissioned by the West Yorkshire ICB, into tackling health inequalities for ethnically diverse colleagues.
• Leeds Community Healthcare – There had been a clear message for colleagues to support one another with improved support packages provided for areas and roles that were considered higher risk, such as revised transport options. Partnership and allyship between organisations and authorities were needed to reinforce the message of zero tolerance to hate. Data and advise on reporting incidents had been shared with staff and longer term actions were to increase CCTV and sliver command capacity, community training and collective meetings with patients to improve staff treatment.
• LYPFT – The service supported a lot of people with mental health issues and disabilities so methods to ensure staff felt supported and safe at work were essential. Staff were encouraged to report any incidents of abuse and the level of criminality was then to be distinguished, whilst recognising all people have the right to care but not to be abusive. More engagement with staff support networks and partnership approaches were sought.
• LTHT – There were three parts to the NHS EDI Improvement plan, to de-bias processes, embed a culture of conscious inclusion and take positive action. The situation was complex given the tension brought by conflict in the Middle East and leadership needed to be visibly reinforcing the anti-hate message and striking a balance between staff wellbeing and service user care provision, in line with the Freedom to Speak up policy and people’s rights to care.
• GP Confederation – Leadership needed to call out hate crime and support staff, with advice provided by the Safer, Stronger Communities department. There was an emerging need for preparedness in primary care with two GP buildings being closed following abuse and criminal damage, leading to relocation and increased security measures. The confederation was engaged with the Freedom to Speak up Guardian network and operated an open door approach for staff raising concerns.
• Third Sector – The sector was comprised of a diverse range of organisations with the number of incidents reported increasing significantly. There had been consistent messaging shared across the network, with a range of resources shared by Forum Central to assist with impacts on work capacity and associated additional stress. Leadership were encouraged to promote all support offers, including therapeutic support and the mindful employer steps. There had been area based assessments with organisations in higher risk areas offered additional support and connections.

On behalf of John Ebo, Head of HR EDI at Leeds City Council, Tony Cooke, Chief Officer for Health Partnerships, outlined the Council’s strategic approach with the refreshed 2024 Zero Tolerance anti-discrimination statement, which had been approved by the Executive Board in September 2024. A five step EDI training programme for managers had been implemented as mandatory training. A Freedom to Speak up Guardian had been appointed at the Council, which was the first for a Local Authority in England. The Race Equality Network had been promoted to staff.

The following further points were discussed:

• This was not just additional work considerations; it was a personal life experience for a lot of staff from ethnically diverse backgrounds and societal behaviour changes were essential to improve social cohesion.
• The violence and aggression online toolkit was to be reviewed by HR to improve the offer for staff and signpost to more support services.
• Reviewing data and having open conversations would allow more understanding of the disparity between increased hate crime and the lower number of reports received by responsible authorities.
• Partnership work through sharing offers and literature between organisations would join up for a consistent approach.
• Relevant attendees were to be invited back to the Board to present the Social Cohesion Strategy once it had been further developed.

RESOLVED – That the report, along with Member’s comments, be noted.