Talking with Jordan helped me to understand how not to compartmentalise EDI. Advance Care Planning is about what matters most to a person,  with identity and inclusivity at the very heart of care.

Find out more about EDI and planning ahead through the lens of patients, staff and systems in this fascinating conversation.

Key messages

• Jordan shares what EDI is inseparable from truly holistic, person-centred palliative and end-of-life care

• The complexity of  protected characteristics and wider inequality shape access, trust and conversations

• Specific challenges and needs of LGBTQIA+ people in end-of-life care are highlighted.

• Jordan describes the impact of unconscious bias, assumptions and trust on patient–clinician relationships

• I learn about moral distress and cultural differences for internationally educated nurses (e.g. DNACPR decision making and use of analgesia)

• We explore the tension that can exist  between Western autonomy and more family-/elder-centred decision-making cultures

• Jordan explains the need to embed EDI in systems, education, co-production and organisational culture (not a treat it as a separate “bolt-on”)

• The dangers of tokenism (e.g. rainbow lanyards) without cultural humility and safe practice are highlighted.

Resource

• National Inclusion Week® | Inclusive Employers

• Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Week 2025 | NHS Employers 

• Hiding who I am” The reality of end of life care for LGBT people 

• Advance Care Planning with people from South Asian Communities 

• It's more than rainbows in reception 

Bio

Jorden Gerring BSc, QEII Scholar and PG Certificate in the management of patients with life-limiting conditions.

End of Life Care Facilitator and Gender Equality Colleague Network Lead

Jorden is a Registered Nurse who has worked for UHDB since 2017, mainly working in palliative and end of life care. In January 2025 she also took on lead role as a Network Lead. Becoming a network Lead and sitting with the Equality, Diversity and inclusivity team has given her the opportunity to broaden her knowledge and awareness of health inequalities.

She was shortlisted for a making a difference award in 2025 for Championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for our People and Communities Award. Her passion for excellence in End of life care is rooted in a profound understanding of the diverse cultural, spiritual, and personal identities of patients and their families. She recognises that these identities, along with systemic barriers and unconscious bias, can significantly impact the quality of care individuals receive at the end of life. Through her work, she actively educates, informs, and challenges behaviours to foster a more inclusive and equitable healthcare environment.

In her Network role, she strives to make colleagues at UHDB feel heard in raising gender related issues. She held the first conference aimed at allyship of women in 2025, facilitated a webinar for men's health and commenced a focus group for the experience of non-binary staff at UHDB.