As Black History Month 2025 draws to a close, we interviewed Pratima Dattani, CEO of Support Northamptonshire – one of our partners in our new Discrimination and Health programme - about the organisation’s work in the county to pursue racial justice and make health equal for the communities Support Northamptonshire serve.
Tell us about Support Northamptonshire
Support Northamptonshire is a social enterprise focused on social justice and impact, focussing our action based on what communities say they need. The core function is about helping overcome health and other inequalities, particularly racial inequalities for the most vulnerable people in our communities and the most marginalised and underserved.
We formed in 2015 and focus on bringing together people and organisations to collaborate which at the time wasn't necessarily what people did in our sector.
We are really connected into the whole integrated care system and influence a lot of work in health and social care as well.
How important is black history month to your organisation?
Celebrating diversity is hugely important and we collaborate with other Black organisations across Northamptonshire.
Collaboration is an essential part of what we do and we have a lot of programs around supporting black communities, Asian, African, African-Caribbean communities, communities of colour and we support all their work. It’s an important month for ensuring the contribution of our communities is recognised.
Can you speak about the importance of your work and how it helps to challenge systemic issues of racial inequality?
In the current climate of hostility, it's really interesting to notice differences in areas. Northamptonshire is diverse with different urban areas made up of different ethnicities. In Wellingborough where our core base is, there's a lot of black community infrastructure that started decades ago and that's grown and grown. As a partner with other key organisations we’ve done a significant amount of work around race equality in the area whereas in other nearby areas similar work has not been done to the same level.
What it’s about is the systemic work over many years, not just by black communities, but by all communities who've grown up with that culture of inclusivity and good community relations. So it's just a measure of influence and importance of the groundwork around racial equality which has been undertaken over many years
People’s Health Trust is supporting your work around removing barriers and challenges on older people from Black communities as part of your Discrimination and Health project. Can you talk more about this?
This is a really interesting and significant territory of work we’re doing. We started a pilot on how we can make care and support more culturally appropriate. We set up a team of grassroots Asian staff who had real reach and trust in communities and it has made the biggest difference. A big problem is that people from Black communities have no idea what services there are available.
Secondly, most of the analysis is showing that most people in Black communities just don't go anywhere near services until it reaches crisis point.
Thirdly, when Black communities do try to access services, they are seldom culturally appropriate.
An apt example of structural racism and inequalities in care among older people is in the treatment of dementia. This forms a big part of our Discrimination and Health work because Black communities’ experience of dementia care is different. Navigating your way through dementia pathways is impossible and difficult and horrible for everybody, but for Black communities we are seeing a lack of cultural competencies within most services. So it’s up to organisations like ours to help people navigate the system and mobilize support services around them so they get the care they need.
And certainly in terms of financial exclusion, digital exclusion, you name it, all of those factors play into it as well.
Our Discrimination and Health Project will help identify these problems, gain real traction with clear and tangible examples and data, and enable us to be much more focused with People’s Health Trust’s help to influence that change more quicker and better.
How important it is to have that evidence base to be able to influence these systems?
Storytelling I think is really important, coupled with quantitative and qualitative analysis as well.
What we're trying to show is that there are so many tiers and levels of structural inequality and racism, at an individual, institutional and wider structural level. So how do you then illustrate that? By looking at individual experiences and breaking it down so that the barriers are evident at each level. Then you can start to address those barriers.
For example a receptionist doesn’t treat someone from a Black community well because English is not their first language or a GP who you cannot articulate your problem to because you are a Bengali woman and your child is with you in the surgery. Or because you need a support worker or an advocate coming with you to every appointment which is not always possible.
One woman we support is Bengali who has multiple health issues and It is difficult for her to communicate all her needs to her doctor. Our support workers are supporting her through everything because English is her second language and there are specific cultural needs. This kind of support should be established in the health system. The fact that it’s not is systemic racism and the result is increased health needs and pressures on already stretched systems.
