Background

King’s Health Partners (KHP) is an Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC), bringing together Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. The partnership has teams (approx. 50 people) employed by one of the partners working across our organisations and wider health system. Fundamental to KHP’s approach is to harness the collective expertise of our partners and develop evidence-based and innovative approaches. 

We are looking to commission specialist EDI expertise to work closely with our EDI Working Group. The working group has recently undertaken a mapping exercise which has identified key themes and priorities for the EDI workstream.  

The group would be looking to gain support to test their working assumptions and priorities, to understand whether any gaps exist and to identify a bespoke training approach which will deliver the benefits of a fully inclusive approach to EDI within KHP’s teams and their senior leadership. This goes far beyond understanding diversity characteristics. KHP’s ambition is to be equitable and inclusive. We want to know how we can embed equity and inclusion throughout all of our work – from the strategic to the operational, through our own internal culture to processes and practices, recognising that each of our partner organisation has their own EDI principles and policies. Everything is on the table, from how we recruit to how we deliver our programmes and projects, from clinical care, education, to research.  

Whilst it is important to the team that they approach this through an anti-racism lens, we want to harness our individual and collective lived experience of diversity – including racial, cultural, religious, neurodiversity, LGBT+, caring responsibilities and beyond – and embody allyship.  The work should include an understanding of our KHP teams and their diversity demographics in order to benchmark and measure impact of any changes implemented.  

KHP is an Academic Health Science Centre, and therefore providers will need to understand and demonstrate a strong research base for the work that they undertake.  This is an opportunity to complement the training and development offers which are already available as part of our partnership* and to create an innovative approach which links interventions with teams to demonstrate improved outcomes in the work we deliver. This should include help/advice with indicators/measures that would inform/challenge us on how we are meeting desired outcomes/impact. 

Support duration and approach   

We are seeking support for the initial phase of this work, which we would expect to likely include recommendations which would require further external facilitation and expertise. Responses should include a proposed approach to this initial phase in terms of duration and methodology, include work to identify our own diversity footprint within KHP teams and be based on expertise and advice to support and test how we might embed EDI in KHP.  

This piece of work is in two phases.  

Phase One  

Phase One involves working with KHP’s EDI working group to increase the organisation’s capacity to demonstrate tangible increases in equity, diversity, and inclusion for those we serve. This will include constructive challenge, recommending approaches to delivering EDI benefits, and advising on indicators and metrics that will demonstrate this.  

Phase Two  

Phase Two will build on Phase One and is anticipated to include training and education that will enable the organisation to demonstrate further embedding of EDI and documenting progress.  

Aims  

to help KHP address inequalities, embed an inclusive culture, and put people, both staff and also the patients within our clinical academic programmes of work, at the heart of decisions and changes that are made at KHP. 

Understanding and identifying systemic and structural racism both in general and within our own setting  

Understanding intersectionality and how this has an impact in the workplace 

The group is also representative of a wider group of protected characteristics and are keen to understand how we might focus on these other areas as well, as part of the planning process and training we will deliver OR 

To help provide practical strategies, guidance and activities for all levels and responsibilities of staff to promote anti-racist practices and further learning and equity for all across the full range of diversity characteristics. 

Anticipated outputs of Phase One  

This is anticipated to be a 6-8 week piece of work, with the following outputs delivered by 25 April:  

  • Identify and recommend opportunities within KHP’s work for further equity and inclusion (e.g. training and education for staff, or benefits realisation matrices); 
  • Within those opportunities, recommend priority protected and additional characteristics to prioritise;   
  • If training and education for staff is one of the recommendations, identify specific requirements for this such as through a competency framework and mapping exercise against what is already available within our partners 
  • Report that summarises the recommendations 

Who do we want to support us? 

KHP particularly welcomes submissions from individuals and organisations who can demonstrate one or more of the following:  

  • A sophisticated understanding of both EDI across the full range of protected characteristics as well as the nature of racism in the workplace and in healthcare more generally given the nature of the programmes of work that we deliver, with specific reference to institutional, structural and systemic racism expressions. This should include an understanding and knowledge of addressing health inequalities in health and social care; 
  • Experience of working with external partners and/or organisations to deliver transformational change within the field of anti-racism, decolonisation and/or equity, diversity and inclusion;  
  • Strong interpersonal skills, alongside knowledge and experience in supporting others to make change;  
  • A qualification in coaching, facilitation and/or action learning;  
  • A solid grounding in intersectionality and anti-oppressive principles; and  
  • An understanding of equalities legislation  

This programme of work will represent a structural and systemic shift towards a workplace which is truly inclusive, attracts the best talent both locally and globally from across the world as a result and is a trusted place to work for all those employed by us. The learning aspect of these programmes will focus not on teaching skills, but instead on changing mindsets to create a new type of workforce which seeks to constantly grow and develop an understanding of its audiences and will create the right environment which enables us to deliver our 2030 strategy.  

This programme is based on the conviction that EDI is the responsibility of an entire organisation, from board and senior teams to the staff that work within our central and clinical academic teams, in order that we can create systemic, longer-term change. 

How to respond to this opportunity  

Please send your response by midnight on 9 February 2025, ensuring this covers:   

  • Your critique of the strengths and weaknesses of KHP’s current EDI statements (below);
  • How you would approach tackling Phase One of this piece of work, mentioning at a high level what you would anticipate in Phase Two;  
  • Your organisation’s track record relevant to this work;  
  • How this constitutes value for money. 

This should be submitted to kingshealthpartners@kcl.ac.uk. 

Selection criteria  

Proposals will be assessed according to the following criteria.  

  • Fit with KHP’s EDI principles by organisation, key staff, and proposed workplan; 
  • Track record and experience of organisation and key staff;  
  • Quality of suggested approach;  
  • Feasibility;  
  • Value for money. 

Selection process  

Proposals will be assessed against the above selection criteria. Written proposals will be assessed by members of the EDI working group’s subgroup. Shortlisted responders will be invited to interview with members of the EDI working group.  

KHP strategy equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) statement       

Our vision is for KHP to celebrate the rich diversity of its staff, partners, and the people we serve. We want equity to be at our heart, where everyone experiences full inclusion, has equal opportunities to thrive, and can contribute fully. We want to harness our individual and collective lived experience of diversity – including racial, cultural, religious, neurodiversity, LGBTQ+, caring responsibilities and beyond – and embody allyship.   

Core principles   

  1. Inclusivity that means everyone will experience full inclusion rather than simply counting the ways we are diverse;   
  2. Diversity that means celebrating difference and using the breadth of experience to enhance our work;    
  3. Intersectionality which means we will understand how the interconnectedness of different social identities shape our experiences and opportunities    
  4. Equity that means taking positive action to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities and benefits;    
  5. Action that means differing perspectives are fully incorporated in our work and that we challenge the traditional structures which marginalise others. EDI will be at the heart of all decision making, leading to benefits for all of our people – patients and staff ;    
  6. Behaviours and skills that means we will embed our core EDI principles in KHP’s organisational culture, going beyond the understanding of facts and requiring the development of skills in unconscious bias, compassionate and inclusive leadership and active allyship;   
  7. Learning and development that means we will understand, embrace and share good practice from the EDI approaches that our partnership offers and seek to maximise and harness the expertise we hold;   
  8. Strategic intent that means we will actively promote and embed EDI as a golden thread across our priority domains of work; Digital health & data sciences, Personalised health, Population Health and Mind & Body;   
  9. KHP will take an evidence-based approach to EDI. We will aim to keep EDI at the heart of our research, education and clinical strategy and ensure that it is a golden thread from the earliest stages of programme design, through full implementation, and into our evaluation and learning (which we will share with our partners, stakeholders, and the wider system).