Investors in Diversity @ Birmingham St.Mary's Hospice

We have been given an Investors in Diversity Award, making us the first hospice in the UK to achieve the prestigious equality standard. We were given the award for our commitment to embedding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) practices into our organisation – benefitting both the people receiving care and the staff and volunteers who work here. 

We were awarded this status by the National Centre for Diversity and was particularly praised for our hard-working Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee. Over the past two years, the committee has driven forward a programme of equality activities to ensure that our organisation has inclusivity at its heart. 

The committee has welcomed community leaders to deliver educational workshops; produced information leaflets in seven different languages to meet the needs of Birmingham’s diverse population; it has participated in key community events across the city such as Pride; and run cultural celebration days for staff and volunteers to inform them about different faiths and holy festivals.   

The Hospice’s Social and Wellbeing committee has also done a lot of work to reduce the stigma around mental health in the workplace, and its popular awareness days have started conversations and encouraged staff and volunteers to pick up information and take part in workshops to grow their understanding in this area.

We were also commended by the National Centre for Diversity for the work of the new Community Development and Partnerships Lead. As a senior specialist community nurse, this member of staff works alongside different community groups to better understand their specific end of life care needs and how the hospice can meet them.