The social divide in hospital admissions – which means far more poor people end up in hospital for preventable conditions than richer people – varies dramatically across England, researchers have found.
Data compiled by the University of York for NHS England revealed that the performance of a clinical commissioning group (CCG) in tackling the social divide in these preventable hospital admissions is not always linked to how rich or poor the CCG’s patient population is.
Liverpool clinical commissioning group, which appears on the worst performers list, and Tower Hamlets and Portsmouth CCGs, which appear on the best performers list, each serve some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country.
At the wealthy end of the scale, South Cheshire performs badly on inequalities, while East Surrey CCG performs well, appearing in the top 10.
Prof Richard Cookson, of the Centre for Health Economics (CHE) at York, led the team that helped devise the indicators for NHS England. “For the first time, you can now find out how fair your local NHS is, compared with similar local areas, in terms of tackling health inequalities between rich and poor,” he said.
Full story in The Guardian 20 August 2016