Top marks for North East Ambulance Service
The North East Ambulance Service has been named as one of the top performing organisations for improvements made to services and employment practices.
The Trust, which employs more than 2,900 people, has achieved gold status in this year’s Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion TIDE assessment.
This year’s grading follows work undertaken in improving support for employees, equality initiatives, improving procurement practices and reaching out into diverse communities to educate people about the service.
NEAS chief executive Helen Ray said: “It is fantastic to see the work of our teams recognised by this award.
“As an organisation, we are proud to have made a firm and consistent commitment to make our workplace and services inclusive and compassionate.
"Utilising this framework has helped us to improve our response on diversity and inclusion agenda and a 10 per cent improvement in our assessments clearly demonstrates that the work we have put into improving our approach to diversity and inclusion for colleagues and patients is delivering real change and improvement.
“Our ambition is to make NEAS and the North East the best place to live, work and grow.”
Karen O’Brien, director of people and development and executive lead for equality, diversity and inclusion, added: “Achieving the highest level of award through the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion demonstrates the commitment we, as a board and as an organisation, have made to try and make our workplace and services as inclusive, diverse and compassionate as we can.