Head of Innovation Programme Delivery, Tracey Jackman discusses a new Health Inequalities programme being rolled out in the East Midlands. This blog covers the need for a programme of this kind, and how we are working with local systems to adopt this, so people who experience poorer health outcomes have better access to treatment, innovative medicines, and medical technologies.

Addressing health inequalities is a top priority for the East Midlands and AHSN Network. Now more than ever, there is a known need to reduce health inequality through optimising access to care pathways, and innovations to improve experience and health outcomes for all.

The Covid-19 pandemic shone a light on the impact of health inequalities and in some ways further widened the gap. Groups in our society who experienced worse health outcomes before the pandemic were disproportionately affected. These included those working in lower paid professions, ethnic minority backgrounds, living with disability and living in poorer areas. The cost of living crisis is also having an impact on those at risk of poorer health. It is incredibly timely for the work of this programme to address health inequalities.

The InHIP programme - supporting local populations

The Innovation for Health Inequalities Programme (InHIP) is a collaboration between the NHS Accelerated Access Collaborative, NHS England’s National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme with AHSNs working in partnership with ICSs. 

Locally we are delivering the programme to address health inequalities across the East Midlands. The programme started with scoping and intelligence gathering to capture priorities and inform programme plans for East Midlands localities. This process has enabled the emphasis and approach of InHIP programmes to address health inequalities in a way that best supports Iocal needs and activities. It has been such a positive experience as local insight has built an understanding of the most pressing health challenges and inequalities.

The InHIP programme focuses on national Core20PLUS5 populations known to experience inequity of access, poorer experience of care and worse health outcomes. Treatment pathways using innovative medicines and medical technologies can be more difficult for people in the Core20PLUS cohorts to access. The InHIP programme addresses inequalities of access to innovations specific to key areas of clinical need in the East Midlands and supports ICS systems to adopt evidence-based innovations, building equity of access for those who may otherwise experience inequality.

Summary of NHSEI Core20PLUS5 strategy

The East Midlands has a diverse population of around 4.9 million, spanning five ICS localities, with inequalities existing across urban, industrial, rural and coastal communities. It holds significantly higher rates of hypertension, obesity, smoking and cardiovascular disease (CVD), with CVD highlighted as a key priority area for many of our ICSs. The East Midlands also has higher than average ethnicity, areas significantly more deprived than the England average and an ageing population. Taking all of this into consideration, EMAHSN is working with ICSs to accelerate innovations for Core20PLUS5 populations, focused on improving cardiovascular health and reducing inequality.

Current InHIP programmes are listed below:

Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland Integrated Care System - Improving attendance to cardiovascular outpatient appointments for the South Asian population within the most deprived areas of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland reducing differentials within drug prescribing.

Lincolnshire Integrated Care System - Enhancing cardiovascular health for people within deprived, elderly, and rural populations to reduce the significant difference in cardiovascular related mortality between the most and least deprived areas of Lincolnshire.

Northamptonshire Integrated Care System - Identification of undetected Atrial Fibrillation (AF) and Hypertension (HTN) through community health screening within deprived, black and minority ethnic local populations.

How the EMAHSN will add value?

The EMAHSN works closely with the ICS project teams as we,

• provide guidance, input, and support
• establish a health inequalities community of practice to collectively share learning, and successes, and address challenges
• provide coaching and support specific to community engagement and co-design
• build an InHIP communications strategy to promote aims, provide updates, share opportunities, and build engagement 
• provide data and analytics support and coaching connect between local, regional, and national leads to share information, learning and resources
• horizon scan to identify and share innovations addressing inequalities

Find out more

I hope you are as excited about the work, learning and impact of the InHIP programme as I am. To learn more about the InHIP programme, please take a look at our webpage.  Or get in touch by emailing me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.