Gay friendly NHS organisations named

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Seven NHS organisations have been named in a list of the top 100 lesbian, gay, and bisexual friendly employers in Britain.

The list is compiled by Stonewall, which this year received entries from 363 employers from 25 different industries, representing more than 1.9m employees.

The highest NHS performer was Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust, which climbed from 20^th to 4^th place this year.

Among NHS organisations, it was followed by Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust (ranked 13), Barts and The London Trust and Tower Hamlets Community Health Service (65), Kent Community Health Trust (71), Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust (73), Liverpool Community Health Trust (87), and London Ambulance Service Trust (94).

In 2011, five NHS employers made the list – two fewer than this year.

Overall, the firm that came top was Ernst and Young, followed by the Home Office and Barclays.

The private and voluntary sectors both improved their representation on the list, but the public sector decreased its share.

In a report containing the list, Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill said: “In a labour market when competition for talent is stronger than ever between employers, the organisations featured in our guide have recognised the importance of fostering working environments in which lesbian, gay and bisexual people can truly be themselves.

“This commitment is critical to building a progressive and forward-thinking brand – and a place in the Stonewall Top 100 Employers is the standard against which this commitment can be judged.”

Organisations are judged on a self-assessment that evaluates their performance against 25 questions across eight areas of good practice and requires supporting evidence, including staff feedback.

The areas of good practice include employee policy, employee engagement, staff training and development, monitoring, supplier policy and LGB community engagement.

Every submission is assessed twice - once by Stonewall’s workplace team and once by Stonewall’s policy experts.

A range of participating employers are selected at random for a face-to-face consultation with an external consultant.