Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13 - Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital

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2. Our Trust Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13
Patient Equality
Objectives
1. To continuously improve the
care of our older patients
Measures:
Year-on-year improvement in the
'equality gap' for patients aged 65+ in
relation to emergency re-admissions
and involvement in incidents.
We would expect that the proportion
of patients aged 65+ who are
emergency re-admissions or involved in
reported incidents would be the same
as the proportion of all patients who
are in that age group.
The situation in the 2012 Equality Data
Report is as follows:
% patients from
the 65+ age
group who are
“emergency
re-admissions
% patients who
are 65+ age
group in reported
incidents
% of all inpatients
who are 65+ age
group
2012 2011
34% 53%
59% 51%
43% 43%
This represents an improvement since
2011 for the first indicator, with the
equality gap having disappeared, so
that patients aged 65+ are now less
likely than expected to be emergency
re-admissions.
Whilst significant work is underway to
improve services for the elderly which
could account for this change (for
example, improvements to discharge),
it is also possible (due to the low
numbers of emergency re-admissions)
that there is some natural variance in
the data year-on-year. Next year, there
will be three years’ data available and
trends will be clearer.
The second indicator, involvement in
incidents, has a slightly larger equality
gap, as was the case last year. The
appointment of a Consultant Nurse for
Older People, with a remit to spread
good practice, should contribute to a
reduction in the proportion of older
people involved in incidents, many of
which involve slips, trips and falls.
2. To continuously improve our
support for staff who have
disabilities
Measures:
i. Balance of notably negative and
notably positive findings for staff
with disabilities, in the 2011 staff
survey.
Current situation:
notably negative findings: 10
notably positive findings: 3
score: - 7
Goal: year-on-year improvement
This result of -7 overall has improved
a little since last year, when the overall
score was -10.
ii. Discrimination reporting rate in
the staff survey on the theme of
disability.
Current situation:
0.7% in survey taken in 2011
Goal: year-on-year improvement.
This indicator has changed slightly,
although hardly significantly, having
been 0.7% last year. Such slight
changes are to be expected given
the small numbers involved (16 out
of 2,323 respondents reporting
discrimination on the theme of
disability, one more than last year).
i. % in staff survey saying we
have implemented reasonable
adjustments:
Current situation:
71% (Acute Trust benchmark 70%)
Goal: to remain well above the
national benchmark.
This indicator has worsened
dramatically, falling from 84% in the
previous year’s staff survey.
Casework and data evidence
both suggest that people with a
disability are reluctant to be open
about disability issues and ask for
adjustments.
The fall in this indicator could be either
because the Trust has been less willing
to grant the reasonable adjustments
people with disabilities consider
necessary, or because staff are less
willing to ask for adjustments at a time
of increased pressure to find efficiency
savings.