Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities Programme (InHIP)

Supporting Integrated Care Systems in our region to address health inequalities in line with NHS England’s national Core20PLUS5 programme 

Project summary 

The InHIP project has been commissioned by NHS England’s Accelerated Access Collaborative team in partnership with the Health Innovation Network. The programme will offer support to ICSs to enable the identification and adoption of innovations and technologies that address the five clinical priorities within the national Core20PLUS5 strategy – maternity, severe mental illness, chronic respiratory disease, early cancer diagnosis and cardiovascular disease. 

Innovations and technologies include medicines, diagnostics, devices, and digital products approved by NICE and ready for spread. 

The challenge 

Health inequalities are unfair and avoidable differences in health across the population, and between different groups within society. These include how long people are likely to live, the health conditions they may experience and the care that is available to them. 

Core20PLUS5 is an approach developed by NHS England to reduce health inequalities. 

The Core20PLUS populations in England suffer from poorer health outcomes, accentuated by the same patients suffering from inequitable access, experience and outcomes from health and care services and treatment pathways. Treatment pathways in the NHS utilise innovative medicines and medical technologies which help to improve the quality of healthcare for patients across England. Accessing these can be difficult for people in the Core20PLUS cohorts as currently there isn’t an approach to target local healthcare inequalities to enable access to these innovations. 

The solution

The programme will offer support to ICS and regional health inequality programme leads to understand their local healthcare inequalities improvement priorities and to develop innovation projects to address them. 

We are currently looking for projects in the East Midlands to support under Wave two. If you are interested in getting involved please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Impacts and outcomes 

The desired impacts and outcomes for the programme are to: 

  • Increase NHS awareness of evidence-based innovations that can also reduce healthcare inequalities in the clinical areas mentioned above (short-term) 
  • Increase the adoption of these innovations (intermediate-term) 
  • Improve access, experience and outcomes for Core20PLUS5 populations with these conditions, i.e. narrowing the life expectancy gap between the most and least deprived and reducing avoidable mortality - (long-term) 

Wave one case study - Using innovation to offer opportunistic Atrial Fibrillation and Hypertension testing for Black African, Black Caribbean and South Asian communities in Northamptonshire 

As part of the Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities Programme, this collaborative project is aimed at reducing health inequalities by identifying un-diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation (AF) and Hypertension (HTN) within black African, black Caribbean and South Asian communities, in Wellingborough and Northampton, where high levels of deprivation exist. The project supports a pathway to diagnosis and treatment, alongside some heart health education. 

Read more 

Testimonials from partners 

Health Innovation East Midlands, has been supporting and working with system partners across the East Midlands, to help reduce health inequalities through the Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities Programme (InHIP). 

Hear from our partners as they describe in their own words how they have valued working with us… 

Contact 

For more information about our work on the InHIP programme, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.