Carnall Farrar - Outcomes, integration, and deprivation in ICSs (31 October 2022)

Summary

This article by the consultancy firm Carnall Farrar looks at the opportunity the newly established Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) have to improve health outcomes, tackle inequalities, enhance productivity and support broader social and economic development. The relationship between deprivation and health outcomes is well known and evidenced, and by working collaboratively, the NHS, local authorities and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations can address the wider determinants of health outcomes, starting with the impact of deprivation.

Content

The article presents analysis showing that:

• there are many health-related metrics, such as number of preventable deaths, that increase as deprivation increases.
• there are several health-related metrics, including life expectancy and those receiving support from GPs, which decrease as deprivation increases.
• many health-related metrics—for instance people taking up NHS Health Check invitations and access to NHS dental services—do not correlate with the level of deprivation.

The article argues that getting a better understanding of these relationships can help to underpin strategies to improve outcomes and drive improvements in population health.