As one of eight Health Data Research UK hubs, we fully endorse the HDR UK statement on diversity and inclusion and will continue to work with them and other stakeholders to embrace diverse perspectives, populations, communities and skills in the data research community.
As a partnership of six organisations, DATA-CAN is well placed to promote EDI in the UK health data ecosystem. If we are to improve care and experience for underrepresented communities, we need to understand the reasons for inequalities and how we can effect change.
As we continue to grow and develop as a research hub, we will be taking the following steps to drive EDI across our projects:
- Assessing DATA-CAN datasets for completion of demographic data and taking action where necessary to increase this
- Including demographic data in our work using real-time data from the NHS to help health services identify issues and respond to events.
DATA-CAN will also embed EDI within our work:
- Taking positive action in recruitment to encourage applications from underrepresented groups
- Joining the HDR UK black interns programme to give opportunities to young black people from the UK in health data science
- Working with our Patient and Public Group, which includes representation across age, gender, geography and ethnicity, on EDI across DATA-CAN PPIE activities
- Actively participating in the EDI programme at our host organisation, UCLPartners, to better understand our inclusion impact and actions we can take to support equality and diversity.
DATA-CAN will review our EDI work on an annual basis. If you have any questions, suggestions, or would like to get involved, please email info@data-can.org.uk
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