What are Diversity, Rights and Equality?

Diversity, rights and equality are misunderstood, not understood or taken for granted, by most of society, but undoubtedly they have an impact on everyone everyday. It is important for healthcare professionals to understand and interpret these three areas so that the best level of care can be given to all equally, within their rights no matter what diverse section of society they come from.

“Most societies are a mixture of different groups distinguished by such factors as ethnicity, religion, customs or language” (Abercombie et al, 1984, p. 114) diversity therefore in its most basic sense is the differences between people, societies and cultures. It is a broad spectrum and one that people are confronted with everyday and to bridge these differences it is necessary to understand what they are. While most recognise the obvious, religion, culture and origin, we also need to understand other aspects such as age and social class and as with all genre’s of diversity it should be recognised that what is acceptable to one group may not be to another, for example certain culture’s will not eat beef. In healthcare professional’s need to learn all they can about diversity so that the best care can be achieved without dis-respect to the patient.

Equality is something most people have a view on whether it is working condition’s, pay or who is the better driver many feel that it is their right. Equality is not as simple as that though, Thompson (2003, p. 7) states “being equal does not necessarily mean being the same” and people are different, men maybe stronger or a young person may run faster than an older person, so therefore it is not easily defined. Equality is intrinsically linked to diversity and rights so it is essential for healthcare professional’s to interpret it as it not only applies to patient care ( giving equal care) but also to the employment of their staff, indeed it is stated that “within the NHS, the equality framework covers wide ranging proposals for an inclusive workforce” (Hunt, 2004).

“Most modern democracies accept