The work undertaken by SAS has an impact on the workforce profile. For example the physical and stressful nature of the work carried out by Service staff makes working longer difficult, especially the physical demands of operational roles and this has an impact on the age profile.SAS unlike other NHS Boards does not have a varied range of alternative roles due to the specific nature of the job. As such this makes it difficult to compare the workforce profile directly with other NHS Health Boards. The Service is seeing an increase in the number of experienced staff with long service retiring at age 55. With the limited capture of equality data across the protected characteristics it is difficult to draw any meaningful analysis and as a consequence of this the potential to determine fairness in training, grievance, disciplinary, appraisals etc is compromised. Work is in progress to improve the disclosure of equality data and it is recognised that this will not change significantly in the short term however with sustained action improvements will be made. With the implementation of the Electronic Employee Support System (EESS) late 2014 / 2015 staff will be able to update and enter their own data electronically and it is anticipated that this will have a positive impact on the overall level of disclosure. Further details of the actions already taken and next steps can be seen at section 3. 3. Actions taken and new steps We said in our 2012/13 equality monitoring report that we would take a number of steps. This is what we did, what happened and what we plan to do next. In order to improve equality disclosure rates a plan is being developed to increase awareness of this and the importance of collecting the data. Reference to equality monitoring has been included in equality and diversity, equality impact assessment and protected characteristic specific training. The new EESS being introduced across NHS Scotland will have a self service element which is expected to improve rates of disclosure. However this will be introduced over a phased period and therefore there is a need to take steps to make improvements before then. Action Discussion has taken place during equality and diversity training to raise awareness of the importance of disclosing information Work is underway to update personal records for those who have recently joined the Service to ensure equality details captured at recruitment stage are transferred to their records
The work undertaken by SAS has an impact on the workforce profile. For example the physical and stressful nature of the work carried out by Service staff makes working longer difficult, especially the physical demands of operational roles and this has an impact on the age profile.SAS unlike other NHS Boards does not have a varied range of alternative roles due to the specific nature of the job. As such this makes it difficult to compare the workforce profile directly with other NHS Health Boards. The Service is seeing an increase in the number of experienced staff with long service retiring at age 55. With the limited capture of equality data across the protected characteristics it is difficult to draw any meaningful analysis and as a consequence of this the potential to determine fairness in training, grievance, disciplinary, appraisals etc is compromised. Work is in progress to improve the disclosure of equality data and it is recognised that this will not change significantly in the short term however with sustained action improvements will be made. With the implementation of the Electronic Employee Support System (EESS) late 2014 / 2015 staff will be able to update and enter their own data electronically and it is anticipated that this will have a positive impact on the overall level of disclosure. Further details of the actions already taken and next steps can be seen at section 3. 3. Actions taken and new steps We said in our 2012/13 equality monitoring report that we would take a number of steps. This is what we did, what happened and what we plan to do next. In order to improve equality disclosure rates a plan is being developed to increase awareness of this and the importance of collecting the data. Reference to equality monitoring has been included in equality and diversity, equality impact assessment and protected characteristic specific training. The new EESS being introduced across NHS Scotland will have a self service element which is expected to improve rates of disclosure. However this will be introduced over a phased period and therefore there is a need to take steps to make improvements before then. Action Discussion has taken place during equality and diversity training to raise awareness of the importance of disclosing information Work is underway to update personal records for those who have recently joined the Service to ensure equality details captured at recruitment stage are transferred to their records