Colleagues from IC24 headed to the south coast at the weekend to take part in the annual Brighton Pride Festival.

IC24 has a long history of providing healthcare services to patients across Sussex, and for the first time this year took part in the annual celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.

The Brighton and Hove Pride Festival is one of the most popular in the country, and is a great celebration of diversity, with people from across the world attending. The event promotes tolerance, diversity, inclusion and education, and these are all key strands of our approach to inclusion and belonging at IC24.

Over the past year IC24 has been on a journey to develop its approach to inclusion and belonging. As part of that journey we created ‘Colleague Resource Groups’ (CRG) to develop communities and safe spaces for allyship and support. The four groups focus on LGBT, cultural inclusion, women and disability. Each group is employee-led, supported by a sponsor from our Executive team.

A total of 30 colleagues from across IC24 headed to Brighton to take part in the parade, with one of our hybrid electric home visiting vehicles being re-liveried to promote inclusion.

Jo Mills, Chief People Officer at IC24, and Executive Sponsor of our LGBT+Friends CRG said: ‘It was an incredible experience to be part of the Pride parade with my colleagues for this celebration of diversity, community and allyship. Our CRG really wanted to celebrate Pride and showcase that we are an inclusive and diverse place to work. By creating our CRGs, we’ve created the space for colleagues to lead cultural change and create a sense of belonging within the organisation. We believe this creates a culture where people can bring their whole and best selves, which is great for them and great for our patients.’