As a member of the Inequalities in Health Alliance (IHA), a group of over 200 organisations convened by the Royal College of Physicians, we’ve written to Therese Coffey, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, urging her to maintain the commitment to publishing a Health Disparities White Paper by the end of 2022.

The White Paper is a vital opportunity for government to set out how every Department will work together to tackle the factors that cause ill health in the first place such as poor housing, lack of educational opportunity, child poverty, communities and place, employment, racism and discrimination, transport and air pollution.

Chair of the RPS in England Thorrun Govind said: “Without coordinated cross-government action on these issues, the DHSC and NHS will continue to be in the unsustainable position of trying to treat illnesses created by the environments people live in.

"The Government must recognise health inequalities as a priority, maintain the commitment to publish a Health Disparities White Paper by the end of 2022 as planned and to commit to a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities.”

Read the letter to Therese Coffey

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