A partnership within NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award for its innovative work tackling health inequalities facing black and global majority women and families in West Birmingham.
The West Birmingham Community Health Collaborative - also known as Flourish - and Ladywood and Perry Barr Locality Partnership (LPBLP) have been shortlisted for a coveted HSJ Award in the NHS Race Equality category.
Its work delivers five programmes, co-produced with communities, which empower young people and families; supports a diverse workforce; creates culturally sensitive healthcare practitioners; and builds trust between communities and health institutions.
Projects range from introducing a new type of community research-based work experience to supporting global majority women with language-specific doulas, and connects schools and community organisations with GPs, hospitals, public health and social care.
The cycle of activity responds not just to listening within the community, but also addresses the wider recommendations of the ground-breaking BLACHIR report - Birmingham and Lewisham African and Caribbean Health Inequalities Review (2022). Among other things, the report highlights the impact of racism and discrimination within maternity and parenthood, mental health and emergency care, suggesting opportunities for action. BLACHIR grew out of NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System’s commitment to the Birmingham Race Impact Group (BRIG), founded in 2020.
Lisa Stalley-Green, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Nursing Officer at NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board, said: “We are committed to tackling all health inequalities, but perhaps most urgently, those affecting our black and global majority communities, as vividly highlighted in the BLACHIR Report.
“This commitment runs through the ICS from top to bottom, so it’s really gratifying to see work at locality level – led by Flourish and the Ladywood and Perry Barr Locality Partnership – being recognised as a key component in reducing health inequalities.
“The creative solutions on show here illustrate so well what can be accomplished when we let the community lead.”
Dr Onyinye Okonkwo, Chair of the NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System’s BLACHIR Task Force, added: “The work being done by Flourish and the Ladywood and Perry Barr Locality Partnership really encapsulates the approach we need to bring the BLACHIR opportunities for action to fruition.
“The approach of raising health literacy across the board, working with schools, capturing the hearts and minds of emerging practitioners and providing specialist support to our most vulnerable women in local communities, especially from the African and Caribbean communities – all at once – really speaks to the urgency of the situation.
“This approach hopefully means we will see changes embedding RIGHT AWAY, which is what we’re all working for. It is so important that we have the community voices leading what we are doing as an ICS.”
Amy Maclean, founder of Flourish and Development Lead, Maternity and Children for the Ladywood and Perry Barr Locality Partnership, said: "We are so delighted to have been shortlisted for this award and owe so much to our partners in the community for their vision and commitment in helping to develop and deliver these innovative programmes. None of this would have happened without the support and vision of the ICS to give power to the community to lead itself."
HSJ editor Alastair McLellan, said; “The HSJ Awards are not just a celebration of success stories but also a platform to shape the future of the NHS, as we mark its 75th birthday.”
The 2023 awards judging panel was once again made up of a diverse range of highly influential and respected figures within the healthcare community, including; Crystal Oldman, Chief Executive, Queen’s Nursing Institute; Dr Habib Naqvi MBE, Chief Executive, NHS Race and Health Observatory; Anne-Marie Vine-Lott, Director of Health, Vodafone; Sir Jim Mackey, National Director of Elective Recovery, NHS England, as well as a range of esteemed Chief Executives from NHS Trusts across the UK.
The Flourish / LPBLP partnership bid was one of 223 shortlisted projects chosen from amongst a record-breaking 1456 entries. The winner of the Race Equality category will be chosen on 29 September and recognised in an awards ceremony on 16 November in London.