Patrick Vernon

The Afiya Trust’s Chief Executive Patrick Vernon is leaving the charity after nearly four years of leading the trust’s work to tackle inequalities in health and social care for BME communities.

During Patrick’s time with The Afiya Trust, Patrick brought passion, energy and extensive knowledge of the agenda to a wider audience, travelling across the country speaking about the many issues affecting BME communities. Some of the highlights of his time as CEO are the celebrated Afiya Awards in 2011, which honoured the work of BME champions in health and social care, and the Living in the Margins’ report, which was launched at the House of Commons to highlight the impact of public sector cuts on BME communities. To round off these successes it was announced that Patrick will be honoured with an OBE in October 2012 for his commitment to working to combat health inequalities in BME communities.

Mr Vernon said: “I am very proud of the achievements and the impact that I have made during my time with Afiya, especially in the last few years campaigning against austerity measures in health and social care and in particular the policy work looking at the marginalisation of race equality. I have enjoyed my time as CEO and the opportunity to work with such a fantastic and committed team. I wish The Afiya Trust the very best for the future and look forward to further collaborations in the future.”

“As for myself, I will be taking a break to spend time with my family before gearing up to explore a range of new and exciting opportunities,” he continued.

Sola Afuape, Chair of The Afiya Trust added: “I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the trustee board and staff at Afiya to thank Patrick for his hard work and dedication leading our work raising awareness of the increasing challenges facing BME communities within Health and Social Care. I would also like to thank Patrick, in particular, for introducing new and innovative practices, such as our Social Return On Investment (SROI) work, a framework for measuring our social value in pounds and pence. He brought to his role an enthusiasm and passion for the agenda which will be missed. We offer Patrick our very best wishes and wish him well in his future endeavours.”