PUBLIC HEALTH
l Better quality of jobs for workers who have been undervalued and underpaid: With the pandemic raising questions around the people and jobs that our economy rewards and protects, its aftermath should be seized as a key moment to ensure employers give greater consideration to job security, job design, management practices and the working environment – as well as pay.
l Measures to improve the quality, security and affordability of housing: It is vital that changes to the local housing allowance made during the pandemic, which have already increased the housing available to those at risk of homelessness, are maintained beyond the immediate crisis. Improving the quality of available housing should also be a priority, as should steps to increase housing affordability and security for those who have been pushed into hardship they never would have expected.
l Action on the systemic barriers facing black, Asian and minority ethnic groups: It is important that the inquiry into the
Deprived communities in England have seen vital physical and community assets lost, resources and funding reduced, community and voluntary services eroded, and public services cut over the past decade. All of this has damaged health and widened inequalities.
disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on black and Asian communities generates meaningful longer-term work to address the root causes of persistent health inequalities among these communities, including discrimination.
l Sustained support of the voluntary and community sector: While the Government has announced some emergency funding for the voluntary and community sector, additional support is needed at a time when these organisations will play a more vital role than ever in rebuilding
Chair appointed to lead NHS drive to
reduce health inequalities A longstanding health leader and advocate on inequalities has been chosen to head up the health service’s major new work programme into the impact of race and ethnicity on people’s health. Marie Gabriel CBE will lead the NHS Race and Health Observatory (RHO), which has been tasked with identifying and tackling the specific health challenges facing people from black, Asian and ethnic minority (BAME) backgrounds in England today. The RHO is hosted by the NHS Confederation.
Ms Gabriel is currently chair of
North East London STP, and Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust, and has previously chaired East London NHS Foundation Trust, NHS North East London, and the City and Newham Primary Care Trust, following over two decades in senior executive roles within local government, housing and the third sector. Marie also has a number of national strategic NHS roles including as chair of the NHS WRES Strategic Advisory Group, and as board member of NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network, NHS Employers Policy Board and NHS People Plan Advisory Group. Commenting on her appointment, Marie Gabriel said: “The Observatory is a critical next step in the NHS race equality journey. It will ensure that we harness the expertise of both our academics and of
our communities, it will challenge but also support the implementation of practical solutions and in so doing seek to radically address the health inequalities experienced by black and minority ethnic communities. “Achieving equity has always been my prime motivator and I truly believe that the ambitions of the Observatory provide an opportunity for us all to systematically improve the access, experience and outcomes of BME communities.” NHS chief executive, Sir Simon Stevens, said: “Good health and access to good care is a right that everyone should expect, regardless of their race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexuality or socio-economic status. The coronavirus pandemic has injected fresh urgency into the need to turn this right into reality, including for people from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds. “Although tackling wider inequalities cannot fall to the NHS alone, the health service has to both listen and lead if it is going to be part of the solution. The Observatory will bring together expertise to offer practical, useful suggestions for change, and I look forward to working with Marie in this important new role.”
The ROH will continuing to appoint independent experts to its steering group, and the Observatory is expected to be fully established later this year.
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local communities – working alongside other sectors including the NHS, local government and business.
l Economic development to create the widespread conditions that enable people to live healthier lives: The pandemic has highlighted groups of people who are particularly vulnerable to economic shocks. Economic development by local, regional and national government can be designed to make these groups more secure through promoting social cohesion, equity and participation, encouraging access to products and services that are good for people’s health and ensuring environmental sustainability.
The report acknowledges that attempting to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on societal inequalities is like “looking through a kaleidoscope” – there are so many separate, interconnected and constantly changing elements that it may never be possible to see the full picture. However, the Health Foundation warns that unless current events are viewed through the lens of inequalities, we “risk ending up in a place of even greater injustice than where we started”. The report concludes that deprived communities in England have seen vital physical and community assets lost, resources and funding reduced, community and voluntary services eroded, and public services cut over the past decade. All of this has damaged health and widened inequalities. Looking ahead to the aftermath of the pandemic, the Health Foundation reminds us that “lessons from the past decade of austerity must be learned”.
Reference 1 Institute for Health Equity, The Marmot review 10 years on, Accessed at: http://www.
instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/ marmot-review-10-years-on
2 PHE, COVID-19: review of disparities in risks and outcomes, June 2020
3 Bibby J, Everest G, Abbs I, Will COVID-19 be a watershed moment for health inequalities? Health Foundation, Accessed at:
https://www.health.org.uk/ sites/default/files/2020-05/Will%20COVID-19%20 be%20a%20watershed%20moment%20for%20 health%20inequalities.pdf
OCTOBER 2020
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