Success factor 7: Involving others

Shadon House Dementia Resource Centre, care home specialising in dementia care, respite and assessment.

• Staff have made links with the local hospital, charities and other services.
• Advocacy services are well advertised so residents can get support and care from the wider community.
• Charities provide external facilitators for arts, craft and drama (at no cost to the service).

Dimensions UK, a service supporting people with learning disabilities and those who experience autism.

• Support plans are culturally sensitive
• Links are made with communities and faith groups to meet individual needs
• External advice is used to ensure day-to-day care responds to cultural needs, for example differing personal care needs or specific meal preparations.

Lisa Govier, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager: Culturally sensitive support has helped staff ask sensitive questions that may not have been explored before. For example, three gentlemen in one service reconnected to their Muslim faith and now have a strong community connection with many friends.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, specialist cancer centre.

They engage with Manchester's LGBT community by:

• working with the LGBT Cancer Alliance and taking part in Manchester Pride
• running staff learning sessions with a Macmillan LGBT project worker
• using an interactive display to support Trans Day of Visibility.

The Doc's Surgery, city centre practice with 7,500 registered patients.

Practice staff look after themselves so they can look after patients well. This includes giving clinical support to each other and also having counselling sessions with an external clinical supervisor.

St Ann’s Hospice provides end of life care in Salford

The hospice has links with the Myriad Foundation, a local Islamic charity. Myriad volunteers spend time with patients of all faiths or no faith. They give emotional and moral support by having a chat, going for a walk in the gardens, playing games or simply sitting and keeping patients company.

This aims to bring greater social inclusion and provide companionship to people at difficult times in their lives. Also, it breaks down barriers and opens up pathways for more Muslim people to use St Ann's services.

This initiative helped to raise awareness and ensure that people were getting the care they needed.

Treloar College, residential further education college for students with a physical disability.

In January 2017 the college was re-accredited as a ‘Leader in Diversity’ by the National Centre for Diversity. The accreditation report stated the college "demonstrated commitment" and had made "excellent advances with equality, diversity and inclusion strategies".

We saw how the diversity and inclusion strategy was applied in practice. For example:

• preparing and presenting meals to meet students’ choices and promote their dietary intake
• employing a team of technicians to adapt and customise assistive technology to enable young people to express their views.