Health Services: Equality
(asked on 13th October 2023) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities on the potential merits of prioritising identification of people who (a) are traditionally reluctant to engage with the health system and (b) may not be easily identifiable as a result of (i) poor health literacy, (ii) digital exclusion, (iii) multiple deprivation and (iv) inequalities conferred by ethnicity.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) is an integral part of the Department. The consideration of inequalities is embedded across OHID and the Department’s work. Our approach will continue to focus on supporting people to live healthier lives, helping the NHS and social care to provide the best treatment and care for patients and tackling health disparities through national and system interventions such as the NHS England Core20PLUS5 programme.
We have published our initial report ‘Major Conditions Strategy: Case for change and our strategic framework’ which identifies the importance of tackling inequalities to improve health outcomes, and is available at the following link:
Core20PLUS5 is a national NHS England approach to inform action to reduce healthcare inequalities at both national and system level. The approach focuses on improving cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory, maternity, and mental health outcomes in the poorest 20 percent of the population, along with ethnic minorities and inclusion health groups. Further information is available at the following link:
The approach has now been adapted to apply to children and young people, with further information available at the following link:
NHS England has recently published a framework for National Health Service action on digital inclusion to help NHS staff enable and encourage greater access to and improved experiences of healthcare, and increased adoption of digital approaches where that is appropriate. The framework can be accessed at the following link:
Inclusion health groups are also known to experience poor health literacy and digital exclusion. On 9 October NHS England also published its inclusion health framework to support the NHS to meet the needs of people in these groups. The framework can be accessed at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/a-national-framework-for-nhs-action-on-inclusion-health/