Key reports highlight the need for urgent action on health inequalities

The Patients Association’s report ‘Improving health equity for patients living with cancer and/or blood disorders’ outlined a number of key findings, including: 

• Patients face significant barriers including delays in diagnosis, unequal access, and systemic discrimination.  
   
• Challenges include poor communication, high transportation and medication costs, and social determinants such as inadequate housing.  
   
• Participants highlighted mistrust in healthcare, particularly among racially minoritised and LGBTQ+ communities, and emphasized the need for better coordination and cultural sensitivity. 

The Patients Association report aligns with the CSP’s evidence to the major conditions strategy and our 10-year cancer plan response.  

Within these submissions we emphasised that rehabilitation is crucial for achieving optimal cancer care outcomes before, during, and after treatment.  

However, pre-habilitation and rehabilitation remain a postcode lottery, prompting calls for more accessible and inclusive services to address referral and access barriers.

Building Health Equity

Also, out this week, Marmot published a report on Building Health Equity: The Role of the property sector in improving health. 

The report examines the health inequity impacts of housing, highlighting key elements for creating healthy homes and places.  

It calls on investors, developers, and operators to enhance the positive health impact of the housing they provide.  

The report emphasizes how cold, damp homes contribute to poor mental health, respiratory conditions, infections, and increased risk of death.

CSP’s policy lead for England, Natasha Owusu, has previously published a blog for Inequalities in Health Alliance on how poor housing exacerbates respiratory diseases and other chronic conditions, and how improving housing can support rehabilitation. 

The CSP urges a cross-government strategy to address health inequalities, involving all departments and policy levers to tackle the root causes of ill health.  

The health mission board should lead this effort, with the 10-year plan committing to the full implementation of national improvement programmes for pulmonary rehab.

Sara Hazzard, CSP assistant director and co-chair of the Community Rehabilitation Alliance, said:

We welcome both these reports, which sadly echo our findings that rehabilitation services remain out of reach for many, deepening health disparities driven by marginalisation, discrimination, and inequality.  

These reports bolster our call for the 10-year plan to build on existing programmes, ensuring full implementation of national rehab improvements.  

‘Access to cancer rehab, prehab, and palliative care must be expanded, alongside a stronger rehab workforce.’

The CSP advocates for better access to rehabilitation services, the expansion of the rehabilitation workforce, and the inclusion of non-registered professionals such as AHP support workers and exercise professionals.