The Institute of Health Equity (IHE) is consulting on a draft report exploring actions the Health Workforce can take to positively influence the social determinants of health and tackle health inequalities.
Sustainable healthcare is not explicitly mentioned in the draft, and i wondered whether SHE Network members might be interested to respond to the consultation and recommend its inclusion?
The Marmot Review of Health Inequalities in England pointed out the "close relationship between the challenges of climate change and the challenges of health inequalities", the vulnerability of people on low incomes to extreme weather events, and the fact that "many measures to address climate change also bring health benefits".
Among the recommendations of the Marmot Review was to:
"Prioritise policies and interventions that reduce both health inequalities and mitigate climate change, by:
— Improving active travel across the social gradient
— Improving the availability of good quality open and green spaces across the social gradient
— Improving the food environment in local areas across the social gradient
— Improving energy efficiency of housing across the social gradient."
The health workforce has opportunities to influence behaviours and policies across all of these areas, as well as to reduce the carbon impact of the health service itself.
The focus of this report is mainly on HOW the Health Workforce can influence social determinants, rather than WHAT they should do (identifying three main areas if action as Practice, Education and Incentives/Monitoring/Directives). However, it might be valuable to highlight sustainable healthcare specifically, and perhaps to include one or more relevant case studies.
The online consultation can be found at https://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/Content/FileManager/role-of-hea…
(Closing date: 18th May 2012)
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