Also, published today, a shorter horizon scanning piece on public health, inequalities and prevention post.parliament.uk/public-healt...

An HLE ambition without a target date or a clear plan to get there is...lacking something

Hi Steve, I'd seen your piece on indices previously and very much agree. I don't think its that we need new measures - esp complex composite ones.

As you say, my focus more on govt need to say what success looks like + the actions needed to get there + who responsible etc.

RISK: But vital to communicate in a way that gives people a sense of agency, rather than playing into feelings of fatalism - or blaming minoritised groups - that could make positive change more difficult.

OPPORTUNITY: All this could mean new opportunities to make the case about the impact of health inequalities – thanks to the greater understanding of poverty, the cost of living and how systems shape health and the economy.

It finds more awareness of (and less scepticism about) poverty, and more support for action to tackle it.

But also that many feel that the “system is rigged” and that decisions are made by politicians seen as “not like us”.

The report out this week is broader, also looking at attitudes to wealth/poverty and to government. Those shifting mindsets really matter - to those of us seeking to improve health, and more widely too.

So that, increasingly,

- Health is seen as a national – and collective – resource
- More of us recognise that society shapes health
- There’s broad support for a whole-government approach to health

It follows paper last year on mindsets about health frameworksuk.org/resources/mo..., which found that people are using less individualistic / more collective ways of thinking about health (though individualism still v powerful)

He also made a wider case for rebalancing funding towards more deprived areas that have lost out – he called it a “reverse Tunbridge Wells strategy”.

We funded IFS work looking into options for local gov funding: ifs.org.uk/publications...

He was strong on principle of NHS free at the point of use, saying alternative is a “poor service for poor people” and that advances in genomics now challenge insurance-based models.

We've said policymakers should recognise strengths of our system www.health.org.uk/reports-and-...

He reiterated that 10 Year Plan will be a “plan for health” not just for the NHS and mentioned policies in different depts that help health.

All well and good …but will it be full X-govt health inequalities plan? If not, is there an aim to publish one? (the question I didn’t get a chance to ask!)

Useful graph to get a snapshot of departmental (non capital) spending and priorities.