More than 90 people attended a Race and Inequalities Summit in May, to highlight the work happening across the Black Country to reduce health inequalities and address racism.
The event, which was hosted at the Hawthorn Stadium in West Bromwich, brought together representatives from a range of organisations including NHS Trusts, local councils, community groups, social housing providers, mental health charities, fire, police, education and primary care.
Led by the Black Country Integrated Care System, attendees shared ideas of how organisations can work collaboratively together to help address health inequalities and raise awareness of the issues of deprivation and discrimination, as well as collectively agreeing a set of system pledges to the local population.
A number of focused discussion sessions were also held on a range of topics during the event, including workforce, health and inequalities resourcing, involving communities, children and young people and digital exclusion.
Tapiwa Mtemachani, Director of Transformation and Partnership at NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB), said: “To help us continue our journey as an inclusive health and care system, we need to ensure that we drive race equality all year long and work in genuine partnership with organisations such as housing, education and community groups, to make meaningful and impactful change for our local population.
“The summit was a great opportunity to bring together a range of organisations from across the Black Country and highlight some of the excellent work that is already taking place to help reduce inequalities and address racism.
“Importantly, it was also a chance to reflect on the work that still needs to be done, what needs to be done better, and how we can collectively work together to achieve our common goals. There isn’t a silver bullet that will help address issues of inequality and racism, however for me it’s about everyone, everywhere, doing everything they can do address discrimination and racism.”
Dr Rajiv Sharma, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the NHS Black Country ICB and Local GP, said: “It was great to see so many of our system and partner colleagues at our Race and Inequalities Summit.
“The purpose of the event was to bring a whole range of voices together from across the Black Country to look at how we deal with inequality, deprivation and prejudice, as well as the challenges and issues we currently face - and how we can work collectively to tackle these issues head on.
“This is clearly not the end and there is still much work to be done. However, the event has helped us to shape a clear list of actions for us all to build on moving forward.”
