20 August 2020

New rainbow pedestrian crossings have been created at The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford and are the first of their kind in the region.

The crossings demonstrate the commitment of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs RSH and PRH, to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), and its LGBTQ+ colleagues and communities, ensuring that the Trust is an inclusive organisation for its patients, carers, volunteers and workforce.

Ruth Smith, Lead for Patient Experience at SaTH, said: “Research shows that fear of discrimination, both experienced and anticipated, can deter members of the LGBTQ+ community from accessing healthcare. Our new rainbow crossings have been introduced to send a positive message and act as a visible representation of SaTH’s dedication to providing an environment in our hospitals that is open and inclusive for our LGBTQ+, communities, reducing barriers and inequalities thereby improving the care we provide.”

Rhia Boyode, Interim Workforce Director at SaTH, said: “Our new rainbow crossings, which look fantastic, are just one of the ways that SaTH and our EDI group are working to tackle and raise awareness of the issues faced by LGBTQ+ groups in healthcare settings.

“There is always more work to be done, but we are proud of the progress we are making to demonstrate that that the Trust is an open, inclusive and non-judgemental environment for patients, carers, staff, and visitors.

The Trust’s rainbow crossings follow on from a number of initiatives which have been introduced to promote inclusion, which include; the launch of a rainbow badge initiative to promote a message of inclusion, the appointment of its first EDI lead, the launch of an EDI sub-committee, establishing and LGBTQ+ staff network, introducing posters which display the Trusts zero tolerance approach to any type of discrimination and working with SAND to provide LGBTQ+ workshops to staff in February 2020 to support LGBT+ History Month.

The Trust will continue to work with staff, patients, local groups and members of the community in supporting a long term cultural change.