PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Health Services: Disadvantaged (11 September 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure hospital staff are trained to provide services which aim to address health inequalities, are inclusive and pay attention to the diverse experiences of people using these services.

Asked by:
Tom Hayes (Labour)

The Department recognises the importance of reducing barriers to services for those experiencing rough sleeping. This is why we supported the development of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidance, which provides recommendations on ways to improve access to, and engagement with, health and social care services for people experiencing homelessness. This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng214

NHS England has delivered the Inclusion Health Framework, which includes focus on the homeless population. Inclusion health is an umbrella term which includes homeless people, and is used to describe people who are socially excluded, and who typically experience multiple interacting risk factors for poor health such as stigma, discrimination, poverty, violence, and complex trauma. The framework supports regions and systems to review, plan, and improve health services for people in inclusion health groups, and is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG214

NHS England is also delivering the Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities programme which has provided learning around effective new ways of improving equitable access to the latest health technologies and medicines, as well as being a springboard for further work at a system level in tackling healthcare inequalities. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/aac/what-we-do/innovation-for-healthcare-inequalities-programme/

We know that patients are struggling to access general practice (GP), especially those belonging to health inclusion groups. We are committed to fixing the front door to the National Health Service and ensuring that patients receive the care they deserve. The Government will bring back the family doctor, incentivising continuity of care so patients can see the same doctor at each appointment, which is key in improving complex and ongoing conditions. We will also introduce Neighborhood Health Centres to bring together vital health and care services, ensuring healthcare is closer to home.

The Introduction to inclusion health e-learning course is available to help NHS staff understand what inclusion health is, the factors that cause exclusion, and the practical actions that GPs can take to improve care for these patients. Further information is available at the following link:

https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/view.php?id=459

In relation to dentists, patients in England are not registered with an NHS dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend, allowing patients the choice of where they would like to receive a course of treatment. Community Dental Services are available across the country and provide specialised dental services to people who are unable to access dental treatment by a high street NHS dentist due to additional needs.

83 local authorities with the highest levels of need have received funding since 2021 for the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant to provide targeted support and treatment to people who sleep rough, or are at risk of sleeping rough, with substance dependency. Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole are receiving £1 million for these services in 2024/25, and Bournemouth is receiving an additional £1.3 million from the Department in 2024/25 for the Housing Support Grant. This is funding a team to provide targeted housing support to people in treatment for substance dependence, and is showing promising results around reducing evictions, which we hope will have an equally positive impact on people’s treatment outcomes.

Answered by:
Andrew Gwynne (Labour)
8 October 2024