Tag: Newsletter

  • E-bulletin – LARCH update – October 2024

    Welcome to the second e-bulletin on the London Anti-Racism Collaboration for Health – a programme designed to empower health and care organisations to use an anti-racist approach to address the health inequalities experienced by Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic Londoners.

    Learning and engagement

    The first learning and engagement event held on 21 October 2024, looked at ethnicity data and how it can be used to reduce ethnic health inequalities.

    Our expert panel included:    

    • Tracey Bignall, Director of Policy and Engagement, Race Equality Foundation, discussing quality issues with ethnicity data collecting and recording.
    • Brenda Hayanga, City, University of London, discussing ethnic inequalities in healthcare for people with multiple long-term conditions.    
    • Macius Kurowski, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, and Manal Sadik, North Middlesex University Hospital, discussing data-led approaches to reducing race-related health inequalities.
    • Mary Hill, NHS England, Head of Policy, Healthcare Inequalities Improvement, discussing data, ethnicity recording, and coding in NHS England.

    The event was well attended with representation from all five integrated care services across the London region.

    Organisation typeNumber of attendees
    NHS Trusts41
    Integrated Care Boards18
    Local Government/Public Health8
    Others (Charities, Research, Education)6

    Further information about the event is available on our website.

    How can an organisation progress to become truly anti-racist?  

    LARCH is developing the Race Equity Maturity Index (REMI) to help organisations manage and assess their progress to become an anti-racist organisation. REMI is a tool with different measures to track an organisation’s development over time and the implementation of anti-racist practice.

    We are currently piloting the REMI with a NHS Hospital Trust, Integrated Care Board and the Association of Directors of Public Health. We will be rolling out the REMI late November following its launch and overview at a learning and engagement event.

    Further details will be available in due course.

    Demonstrating your commitment to anti-racism

    An anti-racism statement has been co-produced for health and care organisations to use. This statement was developed with people with lived experience, and the statutory and voluntary and community sector. The statement sets out its purpose and how an organisation can use it as the foundation for change and actions to become anti-racist. Organisational change to embed anti-racist approaches is a positive step to advance health equity for Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities.

    View and sign up to the statement.

    How can you contribute to LARCH?

    Anti-racism is the process of actively challenging racism and changing behaviours, attitudes and policies to reduce racial inequalities. It acknowledges that simply not being racist is not enough; for a fairer society we must take positive action. London Anti-Racism Collaboration for Health (LARCH) has brought together stakeholders to formulate, introduce and support anti-racism measures.

    We would value your views on one aspect of the programme and hope you can spare 5 minutes to complete a short survey.

    Sign up to the LARCH newsletter.

    Race Equality Foundation and HIN South London – October 2024

  • E-bulletin – October 2024

    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:

    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:

    1. Demonstrating our commitment and challenging ourselves to do better.
    2. Learning through cross sector collaboration.
    3. Communicating what we are doing and bringing people on board.
    4. 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