NHSE failing to hold trusts to account on inequalities

NHS England ‘lacks a clear vision’ on a key part of its health inequalities agenda and is not holding trusts to account for delivering an ‘inclusive recovery’, a study by the King’s Fund has concluded.

The think-tank’s report, which represents one of the most comprehensive analyses on the subject to date, said system leaders had not made the case for change “strongly or clearly enough to convince clinicians and other staff to consider inequalities” when tackling elective backlogs.

The think-tank said it had undertaken the research to investigate to what extent local NHS organisations had taken an “inclusive approach” to managing waiting lists, as NHS England had ordered them to do in August 2020.

The research team said in a statement alongside the report: “There has been a lack of a clear vision from national leaders on why inclusive recovery is important for delivering better and fairer services for patients and the public.

“The report calls on the government to pay greater attention to inclusive recovery to ensure progress is made so that patients can be treated fairly, no matter their background.”

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Source: HSJ, 8 November 2023