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Reducing Health Inequalities

 

We want to be a system that effectively identifies, tracks and takes action to reduce entrenched inequalities in health and the wider determinants, by taking a population health approach, ensuring that Coventry and Warwickshire is a place where everyone starts, lives and ages well. We recognise that some groups who are disadvantaged by current arrangements may need differential access or specific targeted services in order to reduce inequity.

“Everyone should be able to access the same healthcare regardless of their colour, background or culture.” (Feedback from an engagement session held with CARAG, Coventry Asylum and Refugee Action Group)
 

What are we doing already? 

Coventry and Warwickshire ICS has a new five-year Health Inequalities Strategic Plan which provides an important foundation to shape our work. The Plan sets out our commitments as to how we are going to reduce health inequalities in Coventry and Warwickshire, taking account of the delivery of key elements of the NHS Long Term Plan and Core20PLUS5. We have a Population Health Inequalities and Prevention Board, supported by the Inequalities Delivery Group that come together to strategically align and drive forward this work, also supported by the creation of two new Health Inequalities Programme Manager posts aligned to Place. 

A range of programmes and strategies relating to health inequalities exist across Warwickshire and Coventry, including Tackling social inequalities in Warwickshire (2021-2030) and the emerging One Coventry Plan  and work of the Marmot Partnership. It is hoped that this strategy, alongside the Integrated Health and Care Delivery Plan will support in aligning work to ensure an integrated and coordinated approach to tackling health inequalities across Coventry and Warwickshire; embedding action to reduce health inequalities across all programmes of work will be key to achieving our goals.

What will change in our ways of working?

  • Action to tackle inequalities will be embedded strategically and operationally across the system, making it core to the work of the ICS and built around Core20Plus5, ensuring it is at the heart of decision making and prioritising.      
  • We will build a culture of prioritising those in greatest need and an understanding that health inequalities can only be addressed in a systematic system-wide way and by taking a population health approach. This includes reducing inequalities being key to decisions on the prioritisation and allocation of resources.
  • Service provision and preventative activities will be aligned with intelligence around the wider determinants of health and existing inequalities.   
  • All of our services will be planned and delivered in an inclusive way, encouraging innovation and community co-production through design.  
     

What actions are we prioritising?

  • Delivery of the Health Inequalities Strategic Plan across place and workstreams.   
  • Establishing a process to collect and share data and intelligence about health inequalities efficiently and effectively across the system and use this to plan service provision and preventative work.   
  • Ensuring all partners across the system have a shared understanding of what health inequalities are, how they relate to their work on a day-to-day basis and how to address them – for example by using HEAT (Health Equity Assessment Tool). This will also include supporting the personalisation agenda at a population level. 
  • Shifting resource to target population groups demonstrating the greatest need to achieve equity in outcomes, taking a gradient approach known as proportionate universalism.