How to close an unacceptable gap

There has been a disparity in mortality rates between the most and least deprived areas for decades. Over recent years, the gap in healthy life expectancy across the four nations has also increased, with issues such as the cost-of-living crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic further exacerbating this problem.

This gap in outcomes between people living in different areas is unacceptable.

Earlier this year, the Government announced that the long-awaited Health Inequalities White Paper, which we hoped would tackle this issue, would not be published. Instead, a new Major Conditions Strategy was proposed and a period of consultation began.

Today, we have published our newly revised policy position statement on health inequalities and submitted our consultation response to the Major Conditions Strategy.