Addressing health inequalities has been a feature of the policy agenda for successive Scottish Governments. It most recently featured in the 2022/23 Programme for Government where narrowing economic inequality was one of two key pillars included in their long-term economic strategy. On health policy specifically, the reduction of inequalities is a broad aim included within a number of policies, including the National Performance Framework. At a health board level, the 2024 NHS Scotland Delivery Plan guidance sets out ten strategic drivers for boards to follow as part of their annual planning, with “enhanced planning and delivery of the approach to health inequalities and improved population health,” featuring as the sixth priority.

More specifically, the Scottish Government is supporting GP practices in Glasgow with funding worth up to £1million, to use towards tackling health inequalities in Scotland’s most deprived areas.

The funding includes work to enhance the role of multidisciplinary teams, working alongside GPs and in community settings to support patient care, and to maximise preventative and proactive approaches which are offered in the community.

The Public Health (Wales) Act aims to address a number of specific public health concerns, and to create social conditions that are conducive to good health and where avoidable harms can be prevented.

Through this act, Wales are introducing Health Impact Assessments, where new bills and large decisions made by government bodies will have to be checked against their impact on health, and specifically what role they can play in reducing health inequalities. Wales’ Chief Medical Officer, Sir Dr Frank Atherton, used his first annual report in 2016 to focus on health inequalities and Public Health Wales recently produced a report which quantified the cost of health inequalities at £322m in Wales.

The report found that the average annual cost of health service provision was generally higher for those living in our more deprived communities. Costs were highest amongst working aged adults in all hospital service categories, except for elective inpatient admissions.

Health and Social Care (HSC) have acknowledged that they alone cannot address all of the social, economic and environmental factors which influence health in Northern Ireland. Making Life Better (MLB) 2012–2023 is the ten-year public health strategic framework, which focuses on strengthening co-ordination and collaboration in a whole-of-society, whole-system approach. MLB emphasises that the ethos of supporting individuals, families and communities to maintain and improve their overall health needs must be fully embedded as a normal way of working across all organisations, environments and activities within the HSC system.

In October 2016, a 10-year approach to transforming health and social care was launched, “Health and Wellbeing 2026: Delivering Together”. This ambitious plan was the response to the report produced by an Expert Panel led by Professor Bengoa tasked with considering the best configuration of Health and Social Care Services in Northern Ireland.

Every year, The Department of Health produces a comprehensive statistical report on health inequalities, the latest version can be read here - Health Inequalities Annual Report 2024. It presents a comprehensive analysis of health inequality gaps between the most and least deprived areas of NI, and within Health & Social Care (HSC) Trust and Local Government District (LGD) areas across a range of indicators.