An anti-racist health and care system
As a way to combat health inequalities and improve the treatment of Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities across the health and care sector, the London Anti-Racism Collaboration for Health (LARCH) was launched in November 2023. The Race Equality Foundation played a key role from inception through to implementation.
LARCH is a combined programme of work to empower health and care organisations to adopt an anti-racist approach and to address the health inequalities that Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic Londoners experience. The project is funded by the London Health and Care Partnership and delivered by the Race Equality Foundation and Health Innovation Network South London.
LARCH brings together the NHS, social care providers and commissioners, and a wide range of other organisations from across health and care to make a positive impact on racial health inequalities. Through LARCH, these organisations share best practice, provide the bold leadership needed to make progress, and unblock barriers to putting anti-racist practices in place.
The project has five interconnected workstreams:
- Capacity building through partnership alliances
- 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
- Demonstrating our commitment and challenging ourselves to do better
We achieve this through a range of activities, including the development of the Race Equity Maturity Index. LARCH embeds co-production in the development of it’s activities which include an anti-racism statement; monitoring and evaluation framework and communications strategy.
Co-production and Piloting of the REMI
The Race Equity Maturity Index (REMI) was coproduced with a range stakeholders. The entire process was iterative involving the drafting, consulting and refining of the index at various stages of the development process.
A co-production group was regularly consulted and consisted of health and care practitioners, voluntary and community sector workers and people with lived experience. Other contributors were the LARCH steering group, and wider LARCH working group. The Race Equality Foundation ensured the various perspectives and experiences of these groups and made sure they were reflected in the development of REMI.
The REMI was piloted by :
- South East London ICB
- South West London ICB
- NHS England London region
- ADPH London
- North Middlesex NHS Trust
The piloting process was divided into two stages resulting in the refinement of the final index.
Other key activities of LARCH:
- learning and engagement events on ethnicity, data and health inequalities, co-production and effective engagement, and using the Race Equity Maturity Index to advance anti-racism in health and care;
- showcasing best practices;
- hosting an annual conference;
- publishing evidence-informed blogs;
- offering a comprehensive catalogue of training and development opportunities;
- releasing annual impact statements;
- and building strategic relationships to advance anti-racism efforts.
To find out more about LARCH, and sign up to the newsletter visit our website here.
