Event details
Accessing healthcare should never depend on where you live, the colour of your skin, or how much you earn, but for too many people, that’s still the reality. This session explores the systemic and structural barriers faced by patients from underserved communities and highlights the changes needed to make care fairer, safer, and more inclusive for everyone.
Whether you’re a patient living in a rural area struggling to get to hospital appointments, or someone facing discrimination, inequity in healthcare can have life-altering consequences. Join the Patients Association to hear from speakers working across communities, sectors, and systems to challenge what’s always been and push for real change.
Chaired by Rachel Power, Chief Executive, who will be joined by:
- Vanessa Wills, patient advocate,
- Charles Kwaku-Odoi, Chief Executive, Caribbean and African Health Network (CAHN),
- Anna Whelan, Rose Regeneration (secretariat for the National Centre for Rural Health Care),
- Yasmin Sheikh, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Anthony Nolan,
- Sarah Tilsed, Head of Partnerships and Involvement, the Patients Association.
The Patients Association will also share recommendations from their recent health equity report for tackling these disparities: improving shared decision-making, increasing access to services in marginalised areas, investing in workforce training to tackle bias and racism, and ensuring patients understand their rights and entitlements.
If we’re serious about equity, we need action not just ambition. This session is a call to listen, learn, and commit to transforming care so that it works for everyone.
About Patient Partnership Week 2025
Patient Partnership Week 2025 is all about the importance of listening to patients and acting on what they say. From rebuilding trust in regulation to breaking down barriers to care and making digital innovation work for everyone, the week brings together leaders, campaigners and people with lived experience to explore how true partnership can drive lasting change. Whether you're shaping policy or navigating care yourself, this is your invitation to be part of a healthcare conversation that puts patients first.