Learn Basic British Sign Language (BSL)
Additional dates for our popular basic British Sign Language (BSL) classes are now available.
Classes are being held at the at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Learning Centre and run for 6 weeks.
Not all classes run every week and there may be breaks between sessions. Be sure to review your schedule and confirm with your line manager before enrolling.
Full attendance is essential for the duration of the course.
Each class is limited to 14 participants, with a waiting list automatically generated once capacity is reached.
For more information and to register, please find the links to the BSL classes below. Don’t miss this chance to develop valuable skills!
Hate Crime Awareness
This short session gives participants an understanding of what hate crime is and how to report if witnessed in the workplace. It is an important safeguarding learning opportunity for all members of staff working in frontline roles. For further information on hate crime and the NHSGGC response, visit our Hate Crime page.
The following dates are available for 2024 and will take place on MS Teams. To book, simply follow the Webropol link.
- 10th April 2025, 10am – 11am, MS Teams
- 5th June 2025, 10am – 11am, MS Teams
- 13th October 2025, 10am – 11am, MS Teams
- 14th October 2025, 10am – 11am, MS Teams
- 15th October 2025, 10am – 11am, MS Teams
- 16th October 2025, 10am – 11am, MS Teams
- 17th October 2025, 10am – 11am, MS Teams
- 10th December 2025, 10am – 11am, MS Teams
Equality Impact Assessment (EQIAs)
Equality Impact Assessments assess all organisational activity – including policy, plans, projects, service delivery and practice – in order to identify actions to address discrimination and promote equality.
Conducting EQIAs is a legal duty for NHSGGC and helps us provide services that are sensitive to inequalities and meet the needs of our diverse community.
If you’ve been asked to undertake an EQIA in your service area you need to book onto a Lead Reviewers training session before starting.
The following training dates are available for 2025 and will take place on MS Teams. Please click on your preferred date.
For further information, please contact equality@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
How to use the NHSGGC Interpreting Service
Our interpreting service provides a range of services and resources for patients whose first language is not English and who may need communication support in a health setting. Support is also available for patients who are Deaf, hard of hearing, blind or deafblind.
It is the responsibility of NHSGGC staff to arrange interpreting support for patients using any of our healthcare services. It is therefore vital that staff know how to access the support available.
Training includes information on: how to use telephone interpreting; accessing BSL Online interpreting; booking face to face interpreters, requesting translations and direct patient access to telephone interpreting.
Sessions are run on Microsoft Teams. To book a place, please click on the link for the relevant date and time.
For more information please contact equality@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
TURAS
NHS Education for Scotland is pleased to announce the launch of the Equality and Diversity Zone on Turas Learn, NHS Education for Scotland’s platform for learning and support resources.
The Equality and Diversity Zone provides information and resources to support people at all levels to develop knowledge and skills in equality, diversity and human rights.
The resources you find here will help you to make your practice, services and workplace more accessible and inclusive, supporting better experience and outcomes.
We host and curate content from NHS Education for Scotland, NHS Boards, and other key partners on a Once for Scotland basis to make these resources as accessible as possible.
In the zone you will find:
- information on equality duties, human rights and related tools and topics
- a range of educational resources, including eLearning modules, guides and frameworks.
Users can access many of the resources directly at https://learn.nes.nhs.scot/3480/equality-and-diversity.
Anyone who works or volunteers in or with the public sector in Scotland (including third/voluntary sector or if you work in care homes, care at home or day care) can sign up for a Turas account. Log in with your Turas account to access eLearning modules and record the eLearning on your personal learning record.
Whether you are a student, support worker, clinician, administrator, project manager or Board member, there will be something for everyone.
Log into the Zone and you will find learning and practice support for:
- Augmentative and alternative communication
- Making communication even better
- Corporate Parenting
- Dementia and equality
- Deaf awareness
- Equal Partners in Care: Carer Aware, Caring Together
- Equality, diversity and human rights
- Equality impact assessment and planning for equality
- Equality law and legal duties
- The Fairer Scotland Duty
- Health literacy and reducing health inequalities
- Human rights
- Human trafficking
- Learning disabilities and equality
- LGBT People and Public Services: Good Practice
- Trauma, mental health and suicide prevention
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More information will become available on this section as we move across information from our old website. Please check back soon for more additions to this page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are Your Right When Using the NHS?
By law, the healthcare you receive should:
- Consider your needs
- Consider what would most benefit your health and wellbeing
- Encourage you to take part in decisions about your health and wellbeing and provide you with the information and support to do so.
You also have the right to give feedback, comments, raise concerns or complaints about the care you have received.
The following fact-sheets will tell you more about your rights and responsibilities.
What You Should Expect
What Will You Be Asked When Using the NHS?
If the NHS could know a bit more about our patients – a bit more about their individual needs and preferences rather than just their medical condition or history – it’s likely that we could provide a better service. This is not just about gathering information – it is about making sure we are working with individuals, families and communities, rather then just providing identical treatment for everyone.
By law, we are asked to collect patient information on age, sex, disability, ethnicity, religion / belief and sexual orientation. This personal information is collected by staff in NHS hospitals, GP surgeries and other health centres. It is then used to ensure we are meeting the needs of our patient groups and for planning future services.
You might wonder why you are asked for some additional personal information. We know that a patient’s health is often affected by good or bad things happening in their lives. Most patients don’t know that it is helpful for us to know about these things or won’t feel comfortable or confident enough to bring such matters up themselves.
For this reason, our staff in many services are asking all patients about social circumstances that may be affecting your health or preventing you from getting the best out of the treatment we are offering.
For example, staff might ask whether you have money worries, trouble finding work, problems at home or in your relationships, or if you feel you are being treated badly or unfairly because e.g. you belong to a particular ethnic group, you have a disability, because of your sexuality etc.
It is up to you what you choose to tell staff when they ask about these things. Sometimes, if you want us to, we can share the information with other services or people so that you can get support or help in dealing with the issue.
Equality & Human Rights Team – Further Information
The members of the Equality & Human Rights Team are:
- Beatrix Von Wissmen – Strategic Lead for Equality & Human Rights Team
- Alastair Low – Interim Equality & Human Rights Team Manager
- Noreen Shields – Planning and Development Manager
- Julian Heng – Planning and Development Manager
- Louise Carroll – Programme Development Manager
- Susan Thompson – Campaigns & Marketing Coordinator
- Nuzhat Mirza – Engagement Development Specialist
- Mhairi Mcculloch – Equality & Human Rights Practitioner
- Martin Patterson – Equality & Human Rights Practitioner
- Jacqueline Fairweather – Equality & Human Rights Practitioner
- Paul Hull – Health Improvement Specialist – Deaf Community
- Jacky Russell – Equality & Human Rights Admin Support
- Helen Macgillvray – Equality & Human Rights Admin Support
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
West House
Gartnavel Royal Hospital
1055 Great Western Road
Glasgow, G12 0ZH
Contact Form
If you have questions or comments regarding NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s work on equality issues, please contact us using the form below.
Please be aware that this is a general inbox.
Strengthening Human Rights Laws in Scotland
In 2020, the Scottish Human Rights Commission published a report into models of incorporating international human rights standards into law, authored by Dr Katie Boyle, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Stirling. The report came out at the same week as the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty, Philip Alston, visited the UK and Scotland to explore the links between poverty and human rights.
For further information and to view the report, go to the Scottish Human Rights Commission website.
The Scottish National Action Plan on Human Rights:Version 2 is due in 2022. In the interim, the Scottish Government and 3rd sector organisations have increased the focus on human rights due to issues arising from the pandemic, welfare reform, austerity and the recession.
Human rights to health, non-discrimination, food, fuel, income, employment, shelter, safety, relationships and citizenship are at risk for many people.
What are my human rights? mygov.scot
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty Visits Scotland
Kerry McKenzie of NHS Health Scotland, joined the UN’s Professor Philip Alston at a discussion on child poverty during his visit to Scotland. Here’s what she had to say:
“….it feels like I am not part of this world”
These are the words of John Adebola-Samuel, a 12 year old boy I met on Friday when we both took part in a round table discussion on child poverty with Professor Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, as part of his UK visit.
You might have seen John and his sister, Dami from Dumfries, on a BBC Scotland documentary, Breadline Kids, that was aired earlier this year. Unlike much of the ‘poverty porn’ that is on TV, this was a sensitive programme that highlighted the stark situation many families living in poverty are experiencing in Scotland. Because of their immigration status, John and Dami’s family have ‘no recourse to public funds’ which means they are not eligible for state support, including free school meals. He talked about thinking about food constantly, the overwhelming and persistent feeling of hunger and of feeling excluded from everyday life, both at home and school.
The session was organised by Bruce Adamson, the Children and Young Peoples Commissioner for Scotland, and his colleagues and hosted by Avenue End Primary School in Ruchazie. This was the first of Philip’s visits that had children’s voices right at the heart of the visit. Rob Booth, a journalist from The Guardian, was present and he reported on the visit.
I had the chance to flag the impacts from a public health perspective, including Martin Taulbut’s report Working and Hurting, that life expectancy is stalling and talk about some practical action that is supporting children and families in Scotland. And of course, that poverty and austerity are undermining our efforts to improve health, reduce health inequalities and uphold the right to the highest possible standard of health in Scotland.
For me, I felt privileged to be part of the discussion and having the opportunity to meet John, Dami and some other young people who were listened to by Philip and the other so called experts on child poverty. But, in all honesty, I was left affronted: here we are in a wealthy country being investigated by an international expert (whose previous investigations include China and Saudi Arabia) on our levels of extreme poverty and its implications for human rights.
So I’ll end with Philip’s words for consideration: ‘Poverty is a political choice….it is also a human rights issue.’
Kerry McKenzie
Organisational Lead – Child Poverty, NHS Health Scotland
Statement on visit to the United Kingdom by Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, 16th November 2018
Guardian report on Philip Alston’s press statement, 16th November 2018
Useful Resources
Scottish Human Rights Commission health and social care case studies
Public Health Scotland Health inequalities: Human rights and the right to health
The Alliance: Being Human – a human rights based approach to health and social care
Documents
Human Rights and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
Human Rights & Healthcare
Linked Pages
Addressing Income Inequality, Poverty & Social Issues
Extreme Poverty & Destitution
Campaigns
Stand Against Racism Campaign
We Stand Against Hate – how to report a hate crime
NHS Scotland Pride Badge – Make the pledge and wear the badge with pride
Pledge to Be Seen Campaign
Resources
Tip Cards – produced in response to staff requests, these offer tips on communicating and supporting our diverse communities. For hard copies contact us.
Direct Patient Access to Telephone Interpreting – This new resource explains in multiple languages how to access the telephone interpreting service to contact any NHSGGC service. For example, patients can use the service to call from home and make an appointment with their GP, discuss medications with their Pharmacy or book a Maternity appointment.
Equality Law – a Manager’s Guide to Getting it Right
Training
News
