Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust is proud to announce that it achieved gold status in the Disability Standard, the only business-led benchmark that measures an organisation's performance on every aspect of disability as it affects a business.

The Disability Standard shows organisations where they are on disability, where they need to be and how to get there.

The Disability Standard is an online self-assessment with around 150 questions backed up by supporting evidence, which has taken place every two years since 2005. It is run by Employers’ Forum on Disability (EFD), the world's leading employers' organisation focused on disability as it affects business.

David Eccles, Director or workforce and human resources, said: “We are proud to have taken part in EFD’s Disability Standard. Just taking part in the Disability Standard has been a commitment, and we now have an action plan that can help our organisation become more disability confident.

“We are very grateful to everyone who helped us with the submission and we are delighted with our score, which demonstrates how much everyone at the Trust is doing towards becoming more disability confident.

“While we know there is more we need to do on disability, we are confident our Disability Standard diagnostic report gives us the tools we need to achieve it.”

Susan Scott-Parker, EFD’s Chief Executive, said: “We congratulate Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust for participating in the Disability Standard 2009 and working towards disability confidence. It is a considerable undertaking to take part in the Disability Standard, and we look forward to working with the Trust to help them put their report into practice.”