The NHS’s role in tackling poverty: Awareness, action and advocacy (The King's Fund, March 2021)

Summary

At the start of 2020, NHS England and NHS Improvement commissioned The King’s Fund to provide independent support to consider how the NHS can better tackle poverty in England as part of the commitments it made to reducing health inequalities in the NHS Long Term Plan (NHS England 2019).

This discussion paper sets out findings from a process of engagement with stakeholders and wider literature and evidence, in particular:

• how more needs to be done to raise awareness of the NHS’s role in tackling poverty
• what further actions the NHS can take
• how the NHS can be a stronger advocate for poverty reduction
• underpinning these three specific roles, the NHS has a partnership and leadership role that will help support them.