Equity and inclusion

As a nurse, understanding your ethical and regulatory responsibilities in promoting inclusion and implementing equality of opportunity is vital. This is not just to ensure that you keep within The Regulatory Code (NMC 2018), but it is critical to your working colleagues and to your patients too.  

Following consultation with members, we identified 5 strategic priorities for action. Here we highlight what we see as needing to change. 

• Leaders taking accountability for EDI, ensuring advocacy for all members.

This priority focuses on leadership at every level within the RCN and ensures full responsibility for developing and sustaining effective EDI activity within each leader’s area of operation.

It seeks to provide our members with the assurance that EDI activity is being fully integrated within both strategic and operational activity across the RCN Group. To highlight the work taking place, an annual EDI progress report to members will be published to demonstrate its enhanced prioritisation of voices.

• Ensuring advocacy for all member voices.

The importance of EDI will be embedded into every action, initiative, case work or idea generated by the RCN. The RCN will advocate on EDI policy and practice issues that impact the nursing workforce.

It aims to ensure that the full diversity of member voices is truly acknowledged and that members have full confidence that they will be appropriately responded to.

• Facilitating support and collaboration across all communities.

This priority sees the RCN actively embracing, recognising, and celebrating difference and varied experiences across the nursing profession. We recognise the power of belonging and the potential strength that integrated communities bring within the RCN structure. The development of identity-based EDI networks with strong links to a dedicated EDI Committee will form a critical part of the delivery of this priority.

• Encouraging diverse representation in governance.

We will explore a wide range of models that significantly widen access to the full range of RCN governance roles by removing barriers to participation. This means we will find a wide range of interventions and systemic inclusive design to encourage the full diversity of our membership to put themselves forward for governance roles.

We will also support those in existing governance positions to understand the importance of placing EDI at the heart of governance and decision-making. This will be characterised by embedding inclusive governance principles and support that enables questioning, robust debate, self-reflection and respectful challenge to enable everyone to make constructive use of their differing perspectives.

• Creating inclusive workplaces for all members.

We will support members in their own workplaces by empowering them to demand and role-model inclusive working practices. We will provide tools and other resources to our members to challenge discrimination and promote anti-discriminatory approaches, as well as anti-racism in their own workplaces. This priority aims to increase confidence and support our organising trade union model.