We are working together to reduce health inequalities across the health and care system in Lincolnshire.
What are health inequalities?
Health inequalities are avoidable, unfair differences in health between different groups of people.
- They do not occur randomly or by chance.
- They are determined by circumstances largely beyond an individual’s control.
Health inequalities are the differences in the status of people’s health. The term is also commonly used to refer to differences in the care that people receive and the opportunities that they have to lead healthy lives, both of which can contribute to their health.
Health inequalities can involve differences in:
- a person’s health, including life expectancy and the health conditions they have
- access to care, for example, availability of treatments
- quality and experience of care, for example, levels of patient satisfaction
- behavioural/lifestyle risks to health, for example, smoking rates, alcohol consumption, diet, physical activity
- the wider factors affecting health, for example, jobs, housing, education and access to welfare services
Differences in health status and the things that determine it can be experienced by people grouped across four factors:
- socio-economic factors, for example, income and availability of work
- geography, for example, region or whether urban or rural or coastal
- specific characteristics including those protected in law, such as sex, ethnicity or disability
- socially excluded groups, for example, people experiencing homelessness.
People experience different combinations of these factors, which has implications for the health inequalities that they are likely to experience. Levels of health vary significantly across Lincolnshire and there are considerable gaps between different areas of the county as well as different groups within the population.
Interventions to tackle health inequalities need to reflect the complexity of how health inequalities are created and prolonged, otherwise they could be ineffective or even counterproductive. For example, efforts to tackle inequalities of health status associated with behavioural risks (such as poor diets) should address the wider network of factors that influence these behaviours, such as access to affordable healthy food, marketing and advertising regulations, and the impact that these behaviours have on health outcomes, such as access to clinical services.
Evidence shows that a comprehensive approach to tackling them can make a difference. Concerted, structured and sustained action is needed to address the multiple and overlapping factors that drive health inequalities – from differences in experiences and quality of healthcare through to the wider determinants of health. This includes, but goes well beyond, the health and care system. It requires working in partnership across services, sectors and communities, at local, regional and national level. (Source: Kings Fund)
What are we doing in Lincolnshire?
NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board has a team of dedicated professionals, who work with the health and social care providers to reduce health inequalities across Lincolnshire. They use the NHS England approach Core20PLUS5 for adults and for Core20PLUS5 children and young people. They work closely with Public Health (Lincolnshire County Council) to reduce the gap between the healthiest and the least healthy populations within Lincolnshire.