'We must ensure services are accessible and relevant'

A new report sets out recommendations for the prime minister to initiate an ‘ambitious and world‐leading health inequalities strategy’.

The document, Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 years On, shows that over the last decade there has been a deterioration in health and a widening of health inequalities.

“We see the outcomes of health inequalities in clinical practice and we have a role to play in reducing the impact,” Linda Hindle, deputy chief AHP officer for England, said.

“We must be aware of the social determinants and inequalities within the populations we serve and ensure our services are accessible and relevant to those communities who need them most.”

Professor Sir Michael Marmot says that to reduce health inequalities the same actions as stated in the original report, Fair Society Healthy Lives, are required:

1. To give every child the best start in life
2. To enable all children, young people and adults to maximise their capabilities and have control over their lives
3. To create fair employment and good work for all
4. To ensure a healthy standard of living for all
5. To create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities
6. To strengthen the role and impact of ill‐health prevention

Since 2010, life expectancy in England has stalled. The more deprived a geographical area, the shorter the life expectancy and this gradient has become steeper, meaning that inequalities in life expectancy have increased. This is most prominent in women.

The gradient in healthy life expectancy is steeper than that of life expectancy which means that people in more deprived areas spend more of their shorter lives in ill‐health than those in less deprived areas.

There are regional differences in life expectancy, particularly amongst people living in the
more deprived areas; deprived people in the North East have a poorer life expectancy than deprived people in London.

Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 years On