Mental health inequalities: factsheet

 Read Centre for Mental Health factsheets here

Advancing Mental Health Equalities Strategy

 This strategy summarises the core actions all mental health services need to take to better address inequalities in access, experience and outcomes across the sector. Read King's Fund blog and link to NHS England Strategy here

Mental Health Foundation publishes major new report on social inequalities and mental health problems

The Mental Health Foundation today launched its briefing paper: Tackling social inequalities to reduce mental health problems: How everyone can flourish equally. Click here to access report

People with severe mental illness experience worse physical health

A new Public Health England report shows people with severe mental illness (SMI) suffer worse physical health compared to the general population. Click here to read government report

Major new initiative seeks to reduce physical health inequalities for people with mental health problems

A major new initiative to tackle one of the biggest health inequalities was launched today by Centre for Mental Health, Kaleidoscope Health and Care and Rethink Mental Illness in collaboration with more than 20 professional organisations, charities and health service bodies across the country. Read Centre for Mental Health news here

Centre for Mental Health to investigate inequalities in mental health

Centre for Mental Health today launched an 18-month Commission to investigate inequalities in mental health and make recommendations to reduce them. The Commission for Equality in Mental Health will explore some of the biggest inequalities in mental health in the UK and seek workable, long-term solutions to reduce and if possible eradicate them.  Click here to read further.

Preventing emergency hospital admissions for children and young people

A briefing from Nuffield Trust looks at the relationship between deprivation and the use of emergency hospital care by children and young people in England.

It describes areas of inequality and explores how they have changed over time. As well as looking at the overall patterns of emergency hospital use, it focuses in particular on three common conditions – asthma, diabetes and epilepsy – where more timely and effective primary, community or outpatient care could prevent admissions.

Admissions of inequality: emergency hospital use for children and young people

Does a child's socioeconomic background have an effect on rates of admissions to hospital for common conditions such as asthma, diabetes or epilepsy?  Report from the Nuffield Trust.

Funding and staffing of mental health care: the mirage of parity - The King's Fund

In 2013 the government made a commitment to achieving parity of esteem between physical and mental health. That commitment was followed by a pledge of £1.25 billion for child and adolescent mental health, a national strategy for adult mental health and an investment of £1 billion to support its delivery.  Click here to read full report.

New initiative calls for collaboration and change in mental health science - QMUL article

The Synergi Collaborative Centre, a five year programme funded by Lankelly Chase, launched a briefing paper which provides the most up to date analyses on ethnic inequalities in UK mental health systems, looking at incidence, prevalence and pathways to care.  Click here to read article.

Health At A Glance 2017

OECD - This report outlines the latest comparable data and trends on different aspects of the performance of health systems in OECD countries. The analysis of the UK health system finds that the overall health of Britons is similar to the OECD average and that access to care is generally strong but that the indicators for quality of care are below the OECD average. Click here for Kings Fund Blog

The Commissioner: Winter, deaths and inequality

What NHS England isn’t telling you, and more indispensable insight for commissioners, by Dave West.

Covering unexpected wobbles in life expectancy a couple of years ago, it struck me that the phrase “life expectancy” is a bit misleading.

It is often treated as an unquestionable statistic based on some incredible insight into the future – perhaps from an algorithm so powerful it has developed the necessary foresight, or handed down from a mysterious external presence.
In fact, “period life expectancy” – the figure that is often discussed and was the basis of recent analysis by Sir Michael Marmot’s team – does not even involve any expert prediction or debate.

To obtain this article please copy and paste the post into an email and send it to library@uhcw.nhs.uk with the subject line reading, Please obtain this article.

Equally Outstanding: Equality And Human Rights – Good Practice Resource

Care Quality Commission -
This guidance aims to help providers put equality and human rights at the heart of their improvement work so that the quality of care gets better for everyone. It contains case studies and identifies nine common success factors. Click here for blog

Health profile for England

This report from Public Health England draws on population health data to give an overall picture of the health of England. It finds that life expectancy has now reached 79.5 years for men and 83.1 years for women but that much of this extra time is spent in poor health. A major theme of the report is health inequalities as the data shows that in the wealthiest areas, people enjoy nearly 20 more years in good health than those in the poorest areas.

2017 Child Health Profiles

Public Health England has published the 2017 Child Health Profiles.  They are a valuable tool for local government and health services in helping them to understand their communities’ needs, so that they can work to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people and reduce health inequalities.

Geographic patterns of cancer survival, England: 2015

Survival at 1 year and 5 years after diagnosis improved for the 8 cancers examined in this report (colon, breast, cervix,prostate, oesophagus, stomach, bladder, lung) among adults diagnosed in England between 2003 and 2010. Differences in net survival between the 4 NHS Regions are generally small, of the order 1% to 3%. Survival improved slightly but consistently in all 4 regions for 7 of the 8 cancers.

Quality Premium guidance 2017-19

The Quality Premium is intended to reward clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for improvements in the quality of the services that they commission and for associated improvements in health outcomes and reducing inequalities.

Public health working with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector: new opportunities and sustainable change

The case studies in this report show how public health and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) are working together to make a real difference to people's health and wellbeing. The case studies demonstrate how harnessing the skills, enthusiasm and expertise of VCSE organisations and volunteers can help to improve population health and reduce health inequalities.

• Report
• LGA publications

Dying from inequality: socioeconomic disadvantage and suicidal behaviour

This report by the Samaritans links higher risk of suicide with inequality and calls for greater awareness of the risks of suicide and for direct support to those with unstable employment, insecure housing, low income or in areas of socioeconomic deprivation.

NICE Community engagement: improving health and wellbeing

NICE quality standard covers community engagement approaches to improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities, and initiatives to change behaviours that harm people’s health. This includes building on the strengths and capabilities of communities, helping them to identify their needs and working with them to design and deliver initiatives and improve equity.