Driving a step change in healthcare inequalities

The Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities Programme (InHIP) aims to address local healthcare inequalities experienced by deprived and other under-served populations across England. It focuses on scaling medical technologies to underserved populations as described in the Core20PLUS5 initiative. 

We have been working with local teams to design and develop projects targeting those patients most in need among the population we serve. Key to the projects are voices from local communities who are guiding this work. 

Reaching out to address inequality in healthcare 

With our support, local teams across the three Integrated Care Systems in our geography are delivering projects within the InHIP portfolio. Our support comprises data collection to inform public engagement, facilitating learning sessions and project evaluation.  

Mid and South Essex: Targeted out-reach to support people living with undiagnosed heart failure  

In Mid and South Essex, the local team are focusing on identification of and support for people living with heart failure within the area’s 20% most deprived communities, with an additional focus on ethnic minority communities. The local team are implementing a targeted approach and deployed a van to go into the heart of their communities to enable earlier diagnosis of and support for people living with heart failure. In addition, the local team offers a range of support for hypertension, diabetes, smoking cessation, and weight management.  

North Central London: Getting to the bottom of non-adherence  

In North Central London, the local team focuses their activity on cholesterol management in two of the most deprived wards in the geography to both identify people with high cholesterol and to learn more about why adherence to treatment is inconsistent.  To reach the target population, nurses lead the community outreach offering health checks and healthy lifestyle advice. The focus is on people who are at risk of cardiovascular disease and usually do not access GP services. The local team also uses the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of why people do not adhere to taking medicines for treatment. 

North East London: Working within places of congregation and community settings to support higher risk populations  

In North East London, the local team focuses on the management of high cholesterol in both undiagnosed and diagnosed people. The project involves a series of community-based events within faith settings and libraries offering blood pressure and cholesterol testing. Moreover, the team conducted a review of diagnosed patients who are already on the GP register but are not treated to target with subsequent targeted interventions. This allows the team to proactively engage with patients to optimize their treatment. 

The InHIP programme is a collaboration between the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), NHS England’s National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme and the Health Innovation Networks and is delivered in partnership with integrated care systems (ICSs).