An NHS Trust has issued staff with a "wheel of privilege" to help them determine how "lucky" or "marginalised" they are.
The multi-coloured chart forms part of a voluntary "allyship" training module at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Nottinghamshire.
It categorises people based on characteristics including skin colour, sexuality, wealth and body size.
It places certain groups closer to a central "power" hub, while ranking others in an outer "marginalised" zone.
According to the chart, thin, white and comfortably well-off straight people are classified as being closest to power.
While "large", dark-skinned people, those in poverty and lesbian or bisexual people are ranked in the outer "marginalised" zone.
PICTURED: The NHS Trust's 'wheel of privilege' - how privileged does it say YOU are?
Gay men, people of average body size, lighter-skinned individuals and those "struggling" financially appear in a middle section.
The wheel includes 12 categories in total, and covers characteristics like gender, neurodivergence and gender identity.
And it has drawn the ire of Tory MP Sir John Hayes, who labelled it a "half-baked, intellectually vacuous" notion of white privilege.
Hayes, who represents South Holland and The Deepings in Lincolnshire, warned it could have a "vicious effect".
"If you happen to be a white person who might be facing challenges - these could be health issues, or being widowed, or caring for elderly parents - that person could still be deemed to be privileged," he said.
"Yet if you are rich, black and portly you are still considered to be somewhat under-privileged."
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The multi-coloured chart forms part of a voluntary 'allyship' training module at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Nottinghamshire
He added that the wheel displayed a "lack of wit and wisdom", and blasted: "On any such wheel that gauged wit and wisdom, whoever devised this chart would be on the outer edge of it."
While Silver Voices, a campaign group for senior citizens, also criticised the Trust's approach.
Spokesman Dennis Reed called it "gimmickry" and "over the top in terms of the number of categories and the importance of different categories".
And though he said equal opportunities were important, he warned that some initiatives had now got "out of hand".
The Trust provides mandatory online Equality Diversity and Inclusion training for all staff, which must be completed upon joining and every three years thereafter.
Tory MP Sir John Hayes has labelled the wheel a 'half-baked, intellectually vacuous' idea
GETTY
In 2021, the Trust introduced a "People EDI Lead" position with a salary between £43,742 and £50,056.
Then, a "People EDI Officer" role was created in 2023, paying between £28,407 and £34,581.
The Trust said it spent no money developing the wheel resource, which was already widely available online.
A spokesman for Sherwood Forest Hospitals said the wheel was handed out to help training participants "to better understand privilege".
He added: "Our hardworking NHS colleagues are at the heart of everything we do to save and improve patients' lives across all of the diverse communities we are proud to serve."
The Trust defended the training as "proportionate and offering good value-for-money" to support staff "providing outstanding care to the patients we care for".
