We continue to work with the same partners as identified in our second progress report:
The work still reflects what was highlighted in our second progress report, which can be viewed here.
Further progress can be viewed via our regular Community Transformation updates as this work is evolving.
Organisationally, we are developing our activity under our strategic priorities, based on the 4 priority areas of the Advancing Mental Health Strategy, specifically:
Although inequalities are well known and documented locally and nationally, we are working hard to ensure that every colleague understands that they have a role to play.
Ownership of the inequalities agenda is being emphasised by socialising the organisational approach of Value Me with the question of What does this mean in your world? This is followed by Data with Dignity sessions.
Data with Dignity sessions have been delivered within Acute and Urgent Care. This is a service engagement session where service users and colleagues’ demographic data, intersected with access, experience and outcomes, is presented, along with qualitative experience to inform the development of a divisional reducing inequalities plan.
Human Resources, Learning and Development and Organisational Development teams are currently working through a programme of anti-racist resources, facilitated by Amaechi Performance Systems solutions. These resources are designed to equip colleagues to identify and address any racist design and delivery. The programme has been designed to create a social movement approach to anti-racism.
BSol I can programme
The I can programme is aimed at providing unemployed people in Birmingham and Solihull with the opportunity to get into health and social care careers. Our Trust, via our Organisational Development colleagues, is working in partnership with the I can programme to support recruitment from our local communities and support our journey of becoming an anchor institution.
REACHOUT
Within secure services we have two full time Reducing Clinical Inequalities posts taking part in the REACHOUT Inequalities Service evaluation, collaborating with Experts by Experience and the wider service user population in the initial 2 stages of a 3-stage approach to ensure a local perspective.
Engagement Outcome – this outcome involves engaging the service user, staff and organisation in the issues of inequalities and how it relates to the experience and delivery of the service.
Empathy, Insight, & Understanding Outcome – the outcome involves ensuring that the methods and processes employed in this service evaluation generate:
This service evaluation will also seek to ensure that service users who participate will have a greater awareness of their relationship with inequalities and how it impacts them, creating a self-understanding that might help in coping with, and addressing the difficult experiences where inequalities present.
The next stage will be Actionable Outcome.
PCREF (Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework)
We are currently baselining all the activity that has progressed across our pilot sites in Advancing Race Equality. Centrally, our focus has been engagement to identify our key competencies within the framework. While this engagement phase has been progressed, services have generated and implemented change ideas that we hope will improve access and experience for our racialised communities.
We now have an integrated data dashboard which enables services to explore their service user data by demographic, including Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) data. Mental Health Act data sets are also available through a demographic cut. Staffing data across recruitment and experience is being scrutinised quarterly through the Transforming Culture sub-committee.
The above data is being further socialised through Data with Dignity sessions to ensure local ownership.
Having worked with five key partners in the initial engagement stage of the PCREF, we are now looking at how we can facilitate a longer term relationship through a Community Collaborative that would work in partnership with us.
This is in the early embryonic stage, although relationships are well established. The community partners have also successfully submitted bids to support initiatives to support the delivery of the PCREF.
Our community partners have also been supported through the offer of our in-house Quality Improvement training to further equip and empower.
Our Chief Executive Roisin Fallon-Williams provides national leadership on advancing race equality within a diverse range of strategic spaces.
We have representation at the National Mental Health Inequalities Board and are part of the National Mental Health Workforce Equalities: Recruitment and Retention of a Diverse Workforce Working Group.
We are one of four initial pilot sites for the PCREF, a national pilot.
And we have provided national leadership, highlighting the positive use of Quality Improvement in relation to the Use of Force Act.
Community Mental Health Transformation has reduced inequalities as a key delivery aim with activity and programme development anchored on this point.
The Community Collaborative developments are in place to be our critical friend and to hold us to account while their communities will further hold them to account.
We are working as part of the Integrated Care System (ICS) Inequalities Board, addressing how we work across providers to address race inequalities.
We actively support the research and policy developments through the NHS Race and Health Observatory.
We are one of four national pilot sites for the national Patient Carer Race Equality Framework.
BSMHFT has become a site for the multi-site Culturally Adapted Family Intervention Study (CaFI) which is being run over four and a half years by the University of Manchester (Culturally-adapted Family Intervention (CaFI) | The University of Manchester).
The CaFI study brings together our research and clinical teams to look at the effectiveness of a culturally adapted family intervention for people (specifically people of Caribbean or Sub-Saharan African origin) diagnosed with schizophrenia or psychosis.
The CaFI study also looks at how we can extend our understanding of the word ‘family’ to be more inclusive and culturally appropriate, enabling us to collaborate with volunteers and partner organisations in the community.
Yes, because the Pledge is integral to our work as an organisation and our position as an anchor in our wider community.
Programme Management Office approach to creating traction in reducing race inequality:
Embed Community Collaborative within governance with funding-aligned projects linked to PCREF recommendations.
Quality Improvement Activity:
On Thursday 25th November 2021, the Synergi National Pledge Alliance was launched (virtually) in response to Pledge commitment 4: To provide national leadership on this critical issue, which you can find out more about here.
The Alliance’s primary aims are to:
Stretch further curiosity across sectors.
An active part, where we role model change and progress.
To do exactly that, to collaborate and work across boundaries for sustainable change and high impact action where we learn from each other.
Being part of the Synergi experience is supporting us to build confidence in really holding the mirror up and sharing what we are doing to actively address inequalities within our service.