Experts have unveiled seven priorities for health inequalities that the government should keep in mind within their 10-year plan, including calling for a cross-government health inequalities strategy.
The King’s Fund has said there is not only a ‘moral case’ for taking action on health inequalities, but also an economic case.
‘A more equitable NHS is likely to be more efficient,’ it said. ‘Reducing he barriers to accessing services will prevent ill health, while tackling racism and discrimination will help to recruit and retain staff in the NHS. This will also support the government’s aim of helping more people out of long-term sick leave and bolstering economic activity.’
The seven priorities outlined included:
- Develop a cross-government health inequalities strategy for the 10-year health plan to feed into.
- Reorientate the NHS to focus on prevention.
- Radically change the relationships the NHS has with people and communities, from ‘power over’ to ‘power with’.
- Tackle racism and discrimination in the NHS and cultivate a culture of compassion.
- Enable staff to identify and act on health inequalities and capture learning.
- Empower place-based partnerships to take more decisions about how NHS money is spent.
- Actively support local voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations through changes in financial planning and commissioning.
It added that currently there was no cross-government approach to addressing health inequalities and the lack of progress was illustrated by the previous government ‘shelving’ its anticipated health disparities strategy.
It said: ‘In recent years, the signal from government about the importance of this work has not been strong enough. Leaders in the NHS have told us that efforts to address health inequalities have been hampered by national targets and performance monitoring that predominantly focus on finance and elective activity as opposed to quality and inequalities.
‘Limited practical support from national bodies on how to improve, coupled with harsh consequences for failing to meet targets, creates a culture of fear and fragmentation between different parts of the system that is further hindering change.
‘Even where ICSs are able to commit time to this work, and despite pockets of great practice, progress is not always systematically monitored and learnings are not always shared as widely as they could be – a crucial tool for system-wide change.’
It comes as health secretary Wes Streeting announced last week that the government will target areas with the ‘highest numbers of people off work sick’ for a new initiative to get hospitals running like a ‘Formula 1 pit stop’.
