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Showing results for tags 'Health inequalities'.
Found 1,218 results
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Content ArticleIn this blog, Gwen Nightingale and Katherine Merrifield from The Health Foundation highlight measures to tackle health inequalities that they would like to see included in the government's White Paper on health disparities, due to be published in Spring 2022. They argue that significant investment and ambitious policy are needed to tackle differences in health outcomes. They highlight five areas of focus: Tackle the wider determinants of health head on A new, whole-government approach to improving health Policy ideas backed with immediate investment Meaningfully measuring success Learning from the past
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Content ArticleThis free e-learning course by the World Health Organization (WHO) examines the five general steps of inequality monitoring in the context of immunisation programmes. The 'WHO Immunization Agenda 2030: a global strategy to leave no one behind' envisions “a world where everyone, everywhere, at every age, fully benefits from vaccines for good health and well-being.” The course is approximately two hours long and is primarily aimed at monitoring and evaluation officers for immunisation, and people who have basic knowledge and experience working with immunisation data.
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Content ArticleThis study in Social Science & Medicine aimed to fill a gap in existing research by exploring public views of health inequalities and potential policy responses in three UK cities in July 2016. This involved a nationally representative survey and three two-day citizens' juries that took place in Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool. The results of the study demonstrate significant public support for proposals that aim to tackle health inequalities through improvements to living and working conditions. There is more limited support for proposals targeting individual behaviour change,
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Content ArticleThis resource from the Health Foundation includes data, insights and analysis exploring how the circumstances in which people in the UK live shape their health.
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Content ArticleThis article in Translational and Clinical Pharmacology aims to highlight the need to reconsider current medication dosing strategies in reproductive women. It uses the example of schizophrenia to illustrate how a woman's clinical symptoms can change throughout the ovulatory cycle, leading to fluctuations in medication responses. The authors found that healthcare professionals need to consider hormonal and clinical changes that occur with the menstrual cycle when prescribing treatments. They also call for further research to increase knowledge of the issues and find better treatment strategies in women whose symptoms change with cyclical changes in ovarian hormones. However, they warn that results from such studies should never override the symptoms and treatment responses experienced by individual clinical patients.
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Content ArticleThis study in Pain Research and Management reviewed available literature about gender bias in the treatment of pain and gendered norms towards patients with chronic pain. The authors found that gendered norms about men and women with pain are present in research from different scientific fields. They highlight that awareness of the issue can help counteract gender bias in healthcare and support healthcare professionals to provide more equitable care.
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Content ArticleThis guidance will help Local Maternity Systems align their Equality and Equality Action Plans with Integrated Care Systems health inequalities work. The guidance includes an analysis of the evidence, interventions to improve equity and equality, resources, indicators and metrics.
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Content ArticleIn this blog, Dr Charlotte Paddison, Senior Fellow at the Nuffield Trust, discusses whether the shift towards digital primary care risks making access easier for people with less need and harder for those more likely to be in poorer health. She also describes the actions that would help make access to primary care easier for different groups of patients.
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Content Article
NHSE's Core20PLUS5 – An approach to reducing health inequalities
Sam posted an article in Health inequalities
Core20PLUS5 is a national NHS England and NHS Improvement approach to support the reduction of health inequalities at both national and system level. The approach defines a target population cohort – the ‘Core20PLUS’ – and identifies ‘5’ focus clinical areas requiring accelerated improvement. Supporting information about Core20PLUS5 -
Content ArticleIn this blog for the Hospital Times, Tracy Bignall, Senior Policy and Practice Officer at the Race Equality Foundation, writes about how ethnicity impacts on women's health experiences. She argues that the The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) Vision for the Women's Health Strategy released in December 2021 does not give adequate attention to the influence that ethnicity has on women's experience of, and outcomes in healthcare. The article outlines instances in healthcare where ethnicity has an impact on women's health and calls for specific action to address how ethnicity influences health inequalities.
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Content Article
Being fat & pregnant is not a crime (29 January 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Maternity
In this blog for Refinery29, Sadhbh O'Sullivan looks at the issues faced during antenatal care by pregnant women who are overweight. She recounts the perspectives of several pregnant women who felt dehumanised and blamed for their weight during pregnancy. She also highlights issues with the way in which risks are communicated to pregnant women, with overcommunication and overestimation of risk causing anxiety and sometimes making women reluctant to engage with maternity services. She also discusses failures of informed consent, the role of comorbidities and the impact of wider health inequalities. -
Content ArticleThis study in the BMJ Open examines the links between between adverse childhood events and trust in Covid-19 health information, attitudes towards and compliance with Covid-19 restrictions and vaccine hesitancy. The study found correlations between adverse childhood events and: low trust in NHS Covid-19 information feeling unfairly restricted by government supporting removal of social distancing and ending of mandatory face coverings breaking Covid-19 restrictions vaccine hesitancy. The authors concluded that as adverse childhood events are common across many populations, there is a need to understand how they impact trust in health advice and uptake of medical interventions. This could play a critical role in the continuing response to Covid-19 and approaches to controlling future pandemics. In addition, as individuals with adverse childhood events suffer greater health risks throughout life, better compliance with public health advice is another reason to invest in safe, secure childhoods for all children.
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Content ArticleThis study in the International Journal for Equity in Health aimed to listen to the views of community leaders from seven diverse urban communities in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, around quality healthcare and financial reimbursement. In the US, healthcare quality is measured by insurers, professional organisations and government agencies, with little input from diverse communities. The researchers found that community leaders identified several ideal characteristics of quality primary healthcare, most of which are not currently measured. Community leaders expressed concern that health inequalities are perpetuated when social and structural determinants of health are not considered in determining quality.
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Content ArticleThis study in the International Journal for Equity in Health used an online survey to measure and assess relationships between health behaviours and outcomes, and measures of wealth and civic engagement. The relationships found in the survey results support the interrelationships of constructs within the conceptual model. The model can serve as a guide for future equity research, encouraging a more thorough assessment of equity.
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Content ArticleThis study in BMJ Quality & Safety aimed to determine whether areas with higher levels of socioeconomic deprivation or larger ethnic minority populations saw larger falls in emergency and planned admissions in England during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study found that Covid-19 did not have an evenly spread impact on NHS hospital care for non-Covid patients, with disparities corresponding to deprivation and ethnicity. Although it is hard to determine the mechanisms behind these differences, the authors argue that they could make pre-pandemic health inequalities worse.
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Content ArticleThis toolkit has been created for NHS organisations to help them implement the Living Wage. It includes the accreditation process as well as case studies and advice from existing accredited NHS organisations.
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Content ArticleIn this blog for the King's Fund, Toby Lewis examines the need for NHS organisations to ensure its staff members in lower-paid roles are paid enough to meet their living costs. He calls for organisations to pay the real Living Wage, a figure based on actual living costs, rather than the National Living Wage. Currently, NHS pay scales at and below Band 2 spine point 3 do not reach the real Living Wage. He argues that adopting a real Living Wage policy results in a return on investment in the form of fewer vacancies, smaller staff turnover and less sickness - 60% of real Living Wage employers state that it improves recruitment, quality of applicant, and retention in lower-paid roles.
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Content ArticleThis report by The Health Foundation reviews attempts to tackle inequities in the supply of general practice services in England over the past 30 years. The ‘inverse care law’ was first defined by the GP Julian Tudor Hart 50 years ago and describes how people who most need health care are least likely to receive it. The report looks at policies on general practice funding, workforce, premises, contracts and commissioning, examining recent evidence on differences in GP services between more and less deprived areas of England and assessing past national policies to reduce inequities. The report then looks at the implications of this analysis and outlines policy recommendations for addressing the inverse care law in general practice.
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EventuntilProfessor Bola Owolabi, Director of the National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme at NHS England, will be kicking off Patient Partnership Week 2023 on Monday 25th September. Prof Owolabi, who also works as GP in the Midlands, will be in conversation with Rachel Power, Chief Executive of the Patients Association. They'll be talking about the vital role partnerships with patients and communities play in tackling health inequalities. Sign up for this free event which will be held on Zoom About CORE20PLUS5 Prof Owolabi has spearheaded NHS England’s Core20PLUS5 approach to narrowing healthcare inequalities. Core20PLUS5 is a national approach to reducing healthcare inequalities. It defines a target population – the ‘Core20PLUS’ – and identifies ‘5’ clinical areas that require improvement. The Core20 refers to the most deprived 20% of the population. The PLUS are groups identified in a local area such as ethnic minority communities or people with multiple long-term health conditions. The 5 are these clinical areas: maternity, severe mental illness, chronic respiratory disease, early cancer diagnosis, and hypertension.
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EventuntilCare experienced young people are much more likely to experience poorer health, wellbeing, social and educational outcomes compared with the general population. These inequalities are not new, but were exacerbated by Covid-19 as care leavers experienced disrupted relationships and reduced access to support services. Specific groups of care leavers are likely to face additional disadvantages, such as those from ethnic minority backgrounds, unaccompanied refugee and asylum seeking children and/or disabled young people. Yet the health and health inequalities of young care leavers have largely been ignored within policy and practice. As part of AYPH’s youth health inequalities programme we reviewed the available evidence and undertook a youth engagement project with young people to draw together what we know. In this webinar you will hear directly from young people who will share their experiences of the barriers they face in leading healthy lives and accessing healthcare services. We will also highlight the latest available data on care leavers and health outcomes, demonstrating where inequalities exist for young people aged 10-25. During the event we will be launching two major publications that explore in more detail the role of care experience in understanding young people’s health, this will be the first opportunity to hear the learnings and recommendations from this research. The webinar is hosted jointly by the Association for Young People's Health and Coram Voice and will be co-chaired by a young person with experience on this topic. We will be joined by a range of expert speakers – more information to follow soon. Register for the webinar
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EventuntilThe Cancer Care Conference will be a culmination of Public Policy Projects' year-long programme to develop the Cancer Care Delivery Plan, and will feature a broad range of high-level speakers who are key players in cancer care policy and delivery. This full-day in-person conference in London will give you a unique opportunity to take part in conversations that will shape a broad range of healthcare policy that aims to improve delivery of cancer care. The Conference will also feature delegates from NHS England, NHS trusts, cancer specialists, academics, patient advocacy groups and leading industry partners, providing a space to network and develop relations that can enable substantive improvements in cancer care. Key topics Improving prevention, screening and treatment practices Addressing inequalities in access and outcomes Delivering personalised care and precision medicine Effectively utilising technology and data to improve care Addressing workforce and resource challenges Register for the conference
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EventuntilThe workforce crisis engulfing the health and care system is well documented with the social care staff vacancy rate at its highest since records began and the overall morale of the NHS workforce declining for a second year with significant numbers intending to leave the sector. This King's Fund event will be showcasing projects and case studies aimed at encouraging others to explore innovative and positively disruptive approaches to meeting challenges facing the health and social care workforce. It will cover areas including recruitment, retention, wellbeing, and equity, diversity and inclusion. Sessions will aim to: encourage senior leaders in integrated care systems, providers, public health and social care to think about how innovation becomes possible and what it means to take similarly mould-breaking mindsets into their own organisations inspire and catalyse new, imaginative approaches to seize opportunities as workforce responsibilities are devolved consider the impact of innovative approaches and their potential to be scaled up and replicated by others across health and care. You will hear about how innovative ways of working can be developed into practical approaches in the following areas: recruitment – developing disruptive approaches, using digital tools such as apps and online selection, and how those in health and care have been working with partners across local authorities and the housing sector attracting young people into the workforce – how people and organisations across health and social care have been engaging directly with communities and providing accessible routes into health and social care careers retention – supporting career pathways and development for people in support roles, working across an organisation to increase a sense of belonging, and building effective multidisciplinary teams and team behaviours workforce health and wellbeing – supporting staff following workplace trauma, developing cultures that meet the core needs of staff, and embracing flexibility and new ways of working to help people thrive throughout their careers making a difference to equity, diversity and inclusion in the health and care workplace – by using courageous leadership challenge (at all levels) to disrupt systemic patterns present in the health and care sector, and when diversity has been used as a real strength to create change. Register
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EventuntilInnovative medicines provide the opportunity to transform patient care, pathways, and outcomes. But how do we improve access and uptake of these medicines in a way that is affordable, and that supports the already overstretched health and care workforce. This free online event from the King's Fund is an opportunity to consider some of the key challenges to access and uptake of innovative medicines in England. It will discuss: the current barriers to improving access to new medicines how to build on experiences and lessons from the rapid development, approval and rollout of vaccines and treatments as response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It will also consider what more can be done to address inequalities in uptake – especially in areas such as rare disease – and how to support and engage with an already overstretched workforce to improve uptake. Speakers will discuss: patients’ experiences, including how to address issues with variation in access and care how we realise the potential of innovative medicine in the light of the frontline challenges NHS clinicians and patients are facing and engage in the development of new models of care to facilitate uptake. Register
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EventuntilCommunities are playing an increasingly important role in improving health and meeting the wellbeing needs of people locally, highlighted in part by their role in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Integrated care systems (ICSs) need to recognise the role communities can play in improving and sustaining good health, and as part of this they need to seek greater involvement with local voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) groups at the place and neighbourhood level, where the link local communities is at its strongest. This conference will provide an opportunity to discuss the impact of community-led and person-centred approaches to improving health and wellbeing, and to explore what more can be done to build on community interventions, assets and solutions that developed as a response to the pandemic. It will also consider the challenges of demonstrating value and of working with communities to assess need and provide services. You will hear from community groups who have worked with others – including their ICS, local health system or local authority – to develop a collaborative approach to tackling health inequalities. Register
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