National ethnic inequalities pledge is making progress
source:
Synergi
published: 14 December 2020
Amid the national lockdown and Tiered Covid-19 restrictions, which have impacted heavily on many of the pledge signatories’ localities, Synergi has facilitated strategic local action planning meetings as part of an ongoing collaborative process.
In Leeds, an action-focused pledge workshop was delivered to the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board, in partnership with Sarah Erskine (Health Improvement Principal, Leeds City Council) Sharon Prince (Strategic Lead for Psychology & Psychotherapy at Leeds & York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust) and Sinead Cregan (Director of Development and Innovation at Inspire North).
Chaired by Cllr Rebecca Charlwood, the council’s Executive Member for Health, Wellbeing and Adults, attendees came from across the city’s mental health systems, including NGOs and ethnic minority voluntary organisations.
Steps are underway to create a system-focused, co-produced network to ensure the pledge is part of the city’s new mental health strategy. As part of the Synergi Creative Spaces work, a new grants programme targeted at the BME third sector has just been launched by NHS Leeds and Leeds Community Foundation to reduce ethnic inequalities in mental health.
In Birmingham, a co-created, pledge-focused programme of activities are being delivered with Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (BSMHFT), led by its CEO Roisin Fallon-Williams and Executive Medical Director Dr Hilary Grant, in partnership with Catalyst 4 Change, the African and Caribbean Mental Health Hub’s Co-Directors Sandra Griffiths, Beverley Stephens and Tippa Naphtali.
