17.1 million people in England are estimated to be living with a musculoskeletal (MSK) condition. This evidence brief explores what health and care interventions work to improve outcomes for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and what approaches are most effective in addressing the inequalities they face.
Return to work interventions seek to address long-term work or sickness absence, but whether they achieve equitable outcomes is unclear. This brief reviews the evidence to identify health and care interventions that support people from disadvantaged backgrounds return to employment.
Integrated care can improve population health and reduce health inequalities. This brief highlights four key principles for designing INTs to reduce health inequalities based on the available literature and transferable evidence from studies on equitable primary care.
Quality improvement (QI) seeks to enhance care but does not consistently consider equity, leading to potential intervention-generated inequalities. This brief summarises the evidence on what works to ensure that QI addresses inequalities, categorising approaches that improve or worsen them.
We have undertaken a series of 10 evidence reviews for NHS England and here highlight seven interventions and programmes with the strongest evidence base.
The NHS employs over 1.7 million people in England. Empowering NHS staff to tackle health inequalities offers significant potential. However, several workforce challenges exist. In this brief, we review the international evidence on what works to empower health care staff to address inequalities.
Health care organisations can mitigate social and health inequalities by offering high-quality, equitable care. They can also improve communities’ overall wellbeing through their influence and assets to improve the economic, social, and environmental conditions in local areas. In this brief, we review academic papers on how health care organisations can effectively operate as anchor institutions to address inequalities in social determinants of health.
People from ethnic minority backgrounds and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds experience consistently worse health outcomes than their white British and more affluent counterparts. Statutory guidance has recognised that community engagement and empowerment are vital to reduce these health inequalities. In this evidence brief, we summarise evidence examining the effectiveness of different community-centred strategies to improve health in disadvantaged communities.
We have decades of evidence on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of investing in prevention. However, current health and care funding mechanisms do not facilitate investment in prevention. Here we explore what works best to increase and improve funding for prevention defined as any healthcare-based initiative that enhances long-term patient outcomes by reducing harmful exposure, disease onset, and illness progression across all life stages.
