Professor Martin Green, Chief Executive at Care England, discusses why diversity and inclusion must move beyond tokenism to become a practical driver of innovation, quality, and truly person-centred care.
Social care is based on relationships between people who receive support and the people who deliver it. At the heart of good social care is an understanding of people, and the diversity of those we support should also be reflected in the diversity of those who deliver care. Understanding the personal and cultural backgrounds of individuals in the care sector is crucial to delivering effective services. Diversity also offers the benefit of providing different perspectives, which can be very beneficial in challenging existing norms and developing new approaches to care.
In recent years, there has been considerable discussion about diversity and inclusion; however, this is often accompanied by a lack of clarity about what these terms mean and the benefits they offer to individuals who utilise this approach.
Over the years, through posturing and tokenism, some diversity and inclusion approaches have become discredited, and their use for political rather than service delivery reasons has led to their undermining in the eyes of many. That is why we need to return to the basics and identify the impact on both those who use services and those who deliver them of having an inclusive and diverse approach to services. We need to take this issue out of the political Spotlight and make it an essential part of delivering high-quality person-centred care.
Diversity must be driven through every aspect of a care service, right from decisions that are made on appointments and hiring policy, to the way in which we challenge ourselves to ensure services respond to people’s needs.
Workforce diversity is desirable due to its impact on service users, as it is perceived to deliver better outcomes and foster greater creativity. The moment it descends into becoming about quotas, tokenism and positive discrimination is the moment when you lose people’s engagement, and it becomes a political rather than a quality issue.
For many years, I have heard people discuss diversity and inclusion, but when asked how it helps improve services and deliver better outcomes for those who receive support, there is often a vagueness in the response, and they move away from the tangible into the rhetorical. To make a compelling case for a more diverse and inclusive workforce, we must demonstrate the tangible benefits of this approach. For too many years, these issues have become sound bites, and in reducing them to mere words, we have devalued their importance.
Diversity and inclusion must be set in every part of the organisation if it is to be effective. It should include clear policies on recruitment and retention, so that people understand that a diverse workforce is stronger and more reflective of the people we support. There must be clear policies and procedures that underpin our approach in every aspect of the organisation and its services. However, these policies should not focus on numbers or quotas, but rather demonstrate the impact that diversity can have on services and should be regularly monitored against an outcomes framework.
Measuring the impact of such policies is quite difficult, but the fact that it is difficult should not deter people from clearly defining the impact that diversity and inclusion have on the services that they operate.
From my own experience, when I worked on different perspectives and listened to different views, it opened my mind to delivering in different ways. It is this approach to diversity that is reflected in innovation, creativity, and the quality of care, which should be the cornerstone of how we deliver services that are responsive to individual needs.
I want us to reset the dial on diversity and inclusion, ensuring it is enshrined in every service, but with a purpose rather than just ticking a box.
