Our Chair Professor Patrick Vernon OBE on 14 May took part in a panel discussion at Health Service Journal's Reducing Health Inequalities Forum discussing how integrated care systems can collaborate to deliver tangible and long-term impact. The session also included discussion around the importance of setting clear evaluation criteria to help Integrated Care Boards prioitise investments in interventions and how to quickly implement policies across health and scoial care that can have both immediate and long-lasting effects on reducing health inequity. Our Associate Director of Health Inequalities Salma Yaqoob was also a panellist at the Forum, talking about bringing equity and continuity to maternal health care in diverse and deprived populations.
The event brought together over 100 senior leaders working across the NHS and wider systems to discuss short-term tactics and long-term preventative strategies for reducing health inequalities and outcome disparities across high priority clinical areas, finding new ways to expand access and deliver services to underserved population groups.
This year's forum focused on themes including:
- Taking a population health approach and leveraging behavioural science to ensure effective resource allocation, intervention and impact.
- Developing strategies to optimise prevention, service access, early diagnosis and treatment in hard-to-reach population groups.
- Moving from project-based work to embedding health inequalities within the heart of daily operations.