NHS trusts are failing to meet equality agenda, says commission

Many NHS trusts will struggle to comply with the tougher equality and human rights agenda according to a senior manager in the Healthcare Commission.

Marcia Fry, head of operational development at the commission, said that trusts’ performance on equality and diversity was “like pulling teeth.”

She was speaking at the Equality and Human Rights Forum, which was organised by Race for Health and the Healthcare Commission in London last week (11 February).

The new rights will be embodied in forthcoming equality legislation, outlined in the Queen’s speech in December 2008, and the imminent NHS Reform Bill, which has just had its second reading. These will be monitored by the joint …