More than 60 local organisations pledge to tackle health inequalities in our region – join our growing network of Haref Allies

It’s hard to believe that our Haref Allies membership has been running for almost a year. Since our launch in May 2022, 107 people from 63 organisations have become Haref Allies and pledged to:

• Support the Haref Network, and respond with solutions to the experiences of ethnically marginalised communities accessing health services
• Commit to improve health and wellbeing services for ethnically marginalised communities in Newcastle and Gateshead
• Support other Haref Allies to improve their service provision and share good practice for service delivery

Having Haref Allies is a source of inspiration to us, as well as a way to reinforce our intentions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Join the Haref Allies this May and let’s make a difference together!

Our Haref Allies include key members from our local NHS services but we’re delighted to see organisations of all shapes and sizes being actively involved. We have education institutions like the University of Newcastle and Teesside University, national health charities such as Alzheimer’s Society, Macmillan Cancer Support and Marie Curie, and those vital local charities like St Oswald’s Hospice, ReCoCo and Eating Distress North East. Then there are those organisations which don’t provide direct healthcare but for whom health remains an important aspect of their work; Northumberland FA, Citizens Advice Gateshead and The Children’s Society to name but a few.

This is what makes our Haref Allies membership unique – when we bring together such a vast range of experiences and expertise, we can all learn something from one another and share our challenges and successes as we work towards our shared goal of health equity.

The Haref Network remains at the heart of our work and they drive our agenda for the Haref Allies. Read about our current health priorities identified by the Haref Network.  We’re proud of the impact that our Haref Allies have already made in their organisations and we’re delighted that some of the connections we have fostered between Haref Allies and Haref Network have already flourished. An example is West Road Medical Centre which worked with the Haref Network to review their letters sent to patients and ask if they are accessible to everyone.

Many of our current Allies have told us how valuable they find being part of the Haref Allies.

Since we joined, we have had engaging conversations with community groups and are developing some very exciting projects to improve the training and education of the future pharmacy workforce and hopefully contribute to the public health messaging and services provided to the diverse communities around Newcastle.

If all of this wasn’t enough, here are some of the additional benefits of becoming a Haref Ally:

• Invitation to two in-person Haref Allies events each year
• Supporting health information sessions with the Haref Network
• Free Cultural Competency training
• 10% discount off training packages from Connected Voice, including Cultural Competency training for your team
• Regular information emails
• Haref Ally badge for your email signature

Since becoming an Ally, we have been incredibly impressed by the work that Haref do.  We’ve completed Cultural Competency training and have been invited to Haref Allies networking events, providing us with the opportunity to meet with other like-minded organisations, sharing best practice and making vital links in our community.

 

Changes to the Haref Allies membership for 2023

Last year, organisations could nominate up to two people to become Haref Allies as part of their membership. Following feedback and a review of how we can make the most of the membership for our Haref Allies, we have decided to offer individual membership to all new and existing Haref Allies.

• £39 plus VAT for statutory organisations/private enterprises or
• £23 plus VAT for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.
• 5% discount applied on each additional membership. For example, the price for two representatives from a VCSE organisation will be £44.85 plus VAT.

With individual membership, there are a number of benefits:

• It’s more affordable for smaller organisations that can only sign up one member of their team to become a Haref Ally
• Larger organisations have the opportunity to sign up more than two members of their team and benefit from a discounted rate when they do so
• There’s more flexibility – if a member of your team leaves or changes roles, simply register for a new membership and the new Haref Ally will receive invites to the training and Haref Allies meetings
• It reinforces the role of the Haref Allies as champions of health equity in their own organisations

Join the Haref Allies this May 2023

We’re opening applications for our new membership offer to begin this May. Complete your application online today and we’ll be in touch. Visit our Haref Allies page to learn more and read the frequently asked questions. If you have any further questions, please email Mehru-Nisa.Shah@connectedvoice.org.uk.