Dear Colleague
Following the announcement this year about the appointment of the delivery partner for LARCH, please find below an update on work so far. This includes:
- Progress to develop and pilot the race equality maturity index
- Data, ethnicity and health inequalities online learning event October 21
- Anti-racism statement for organisations to show intention to work against systemic racism
Please sign-up with REF (details below) to get further LARCH updates.
Last week the Institute of Health Equity (IHE) evidence review Structural Racism, Ethnicity and Health Inequalities in London.
The IHE evidence concludes “Racism in the capital is widespread and persistent causing damage to individuals, communities and society as a whole. Its impacts are experienced in different ways and to varying levels of intensity related to individual experiences, socioeconomic position and other dimensions of exclusion such as disability, age and gender. The intersections with other dimensions of exclusion can amplify the effects of racism.” The review highlights many examples of existing work taking place in London to tackle structural racism. Including examples from the NHS, local authorities, GLA and partnership projects like Building a Fairer City and the London Anti-Racism Collaborative for Health (LARCH).
We will continue to work with partners across the health and care system to take forward activity to tackle health inequalities.
Best wishes
Health Inequalities Strategy Team
GLA
Update on the London Anti Racist Collaboration for Health (LARCH)
The Race Equality Foundation and Health Innovation Network South London have been busy forging ahead with the LARCH programme since their appointment in April this year.
LARCH is a combined programme of work to empower health and care organisations to embed an anti-racist approach to address the inequalities in health that Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic Londoners experience. It involves five interconnected work streams:
- Demonstrating our commitment and challenging ourselves to do better.
- Learning through cross sector collaboration.
- Communicating what we are doing and bringing people on board.
- Build a solid, collaborative foundation and a longer-term plan.
Capacity building through partnership alliances.
LARCH activities
Key to all these activities is the co-production approach we have undertaken. We have keenly welcomed working with a co-production group made up of people with lived experience, health and care organisations and the voluntary and community sector in shaping the development of these activities. We look forward to their continued involvement in other activities in the LARCH programme.
The Race Equity Maturity Index (REMI)
This is a tool to help organisations manage change by tracking their development over time, to learn and improve as they change to become an antiracist organisation and implement antiracist practice. The index includes different measures for organisations to self-assess against.
We are excited about REMI and its potential to facilitate change. REMI is in the final stages of development and will be piloted over the coming month within health and care organisations representing different areas of London. The intention is to make final revisions and for organisations to start implementing the tool in November.
An anti-racism statement
This is a co-produced statement that is aligned with the theory of change and can be used by organisations that specify their intent to become an anti-racism organisation. Please see attached for more information and the statement.
Learning and engagement events
The first LARCH learning and engagement event on 21 October 2024 on Data, ethnicity and health inequalities. The event will provide an opportunity for those working across social care, integrated care boards, public health and others to improve their understanding of ethnicity data, its analysis and use to make a positive change on the health inequalities that Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic Londoners experience. The free online event will provide an opportunity for cross sector learning, engagement, and networking by not only exploring quality issues in relation to ethnicity data recording, but also highlighting how his data can be used in an anti-racism approach, to address inequalities.
Register on Eventbrite.
Starting with an anti-racism statement – will you sign up?
A starting point for anti-racism work is usually a statement that recognises the impact of racial discrimination and shows the intention of an organisation to work against systemic racism and the effect this has on an individual’s health and wellbeing. The statement usually includes a description of why the statement is being made, the purpose of it and how the organisation will be anti-racist in its policies and actions.
Working with a co-production group, LARCH produced an agreed statement and ask health and care organisations to sign up to the statement below and use it as the foundation for their anti-racist practice.
Sign up to the LARCH newsletter.
Race Equality Foundation and HIN South London – October 2024
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