Reports

In 2010, the Marmot Review stated that healthcare inequalities “are not inevitable and can be significantly reduced… avoidable health inequalities are unfair and putting them right is a matter of social justice”.

There are known, unfair and avoidable differences in health between groups, populations or individuals that arise from the unequal distribution of social, environmental and economic conditions within societies. They influence the risk of people becoming ill, their ability to prevent illness, their opportunities to access the right treatment when ill-health occurs, and mean some people have poorer outcomes or longer recovery times than others.

When inequalities cause or increase the risk of harm to patients in healthcare, they are considered to be patient safety healthcare inequalities. Viewing healthcare inequalities through the lens of patient safety identifies an important line of action for which healthcare professionals and systems have a clear responsibility.

The patient safety healthcare inequalities reduction framework sets out 5 principles to reduce patient safety healthcare inequalities across the NHS. 

Principle 1

All staff, patients, service users, families and carers have access to information, translation and interpretation services when needed.

Principle 2 

All healthcare staff receive undergraduate patient safety training, ongoing training, and accessible resources that improve their awareness and understanding of healthcare inequalities related to patient safety risks. 

Principle 3

Accurate and complete diversity data are collected  for protected characteristics and inclusion health groups on digital platforms. This work includes making disaggregated data available so evaluation can drive improvements in patient safety and healthcare inequalities.

Principle 4

Representatives of diverse communities are involved in the design and delivery of improvements aimed at reducing patient safety healthcare inequalities. This co-production involves drawing on the knowledge and experience of patients, service users, carers, families, communities and staff.

Principle 5

Improve the understanding of patient safety healthcare inequalities and drive improvement through identifying priority areas for research.

Members of the public can get involved in health and social care research in a variety of meaningful ways—ranging from helping shape what research gets done, to participating in studies, to helping share findings. These roles generally fall into two broad categories: public involvement and participation.