Tackling health inequalities remains one of the greatest challenges facing the NHS and the wider health sector today. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed how deeply entrenched these disparities are, underscoring the urgent need for innovative and comprehensive approaches to address them.
Advances in digital technologies, data analytics, workforce development, and community partnerships present a unique opportunity to reshape our health system to serve everyone, irrespective of their circumstances.
That’s the vision driving our latest report, drawn from a roundtable discussion held in December 2024.
Following the publication of the Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities Programme: Impact and learning report, which shares the learning and impact of the Innovation for Health Inequalities programme (InHIP), a partnership initiated in 2022 between NHS England and the Health Innovation Network, which sought to improve access to NICE-recommended technologies for underserved communities, using the Core20PLUS5 framework, we convened senior clinicians, NHS leaders, policymakers, and community representatives to discuss one of the NHS’s biggest challenges: health inequalities.
What emerged was a set of powerful ideas for reshaping care, eliminating gaps, and delivering substantial benefits for both local communities and the NHS.
In this new report, Forging a more equitable healthy future through policy and partnership: Tackling Health Inequalities Through Innovation, we capture how culturally competent approaches, data-driven insights, and place-based partnerships can create a new blueprint for equitable health services.
These discussions reveal that equity-centered solutions don’t just improve patient outcomes; they also ease long-term pressures on the health system and contribute to local economic resilience.
Our collective recommendations resonate at a time when the UK Government’s new ten-year plan could redefine how the NHS tackles systemic challenges. With fresh opportunities on the horizon, now is the moment to align policy, budgets, and everyday practice around a single guiding principle: that no community should be overlooked or underserved. This report offers a roadmap for transforming vision into action.
Explore the full report and discover the real-world case studies, expert insights, and actionable recommendations that could shape the next decade of healthcare.
Tackling health inequalities remains one of the greatest challenges facing the NHS and the wider health sector today. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed how deeply entrenched these disparities are, underscoring the urgent need for innovative and comprehensive approaches to address them. Advances in digital technologies, data analytics, workforce development, and community partnerships present a unique opportunity [...]
We are delighted to publish the Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities Programme (InHIP) impact and learning report. NHS England’s InHIP programme is a collaboration between the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), NHS England’s National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme and the Health Innovation Network, delivered in partnership with integrated care systems (ICSs). It aims to address local healthcare [...]
Download our Impact Report In 2023-24, as a Network, we delivered national programmes and initiatives that benefitted over 1,228,000 patients, created wealth and health by leveraging £467m through our support to innovators, and worked alongside health and care teams to tackle some of the NHS’s most pressing challenges including cardiovascular disease, patient safety and [...]
