IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/rsocxx/v19y2024i4p531-554.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are we any closer to tackling health inequalities in England?

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah Ayres
  • Jack Newman
  • Geoff Bates
  • Anna Le Gouais
  • Rachael McClathey
  • Nick Pearce

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the recent progress made by Government to improve public health and address health inequality. Elected in July 2024, the Labour government has promised to deliver a transition from reactive to preventative health policy and tackle social and geographic disparities in public health. However, this government pledge is not new and recent progress has been limited. This article examines progress in an area of policy that is increasingly recognised as a critical wider determinant of health, notably the link between the urban environment and health outcomes. Our analysis is based on extensive co-production with government. Drawing on co-production logs and the fieldnotes of an embedded researcher, this article reflects on the progress made under the Conservative’s levelling up agenda and considers the potential of Labour’s health mission. Our findings reveal that, while the figures on health inequality signal failure, there are glimmers of hope in creating new ‘opportunity spaces’ for doing things differently. We conclude that the critical intersection between new social science evidence and the entrepreneurial agency of public officials will be pivotal in making any headway against this target. Moreover, this must sit alongside more government investment to improve public health.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Ayres & Jack Newman & Geoff Bates & Anna Le Gouais & Rachael McClathey & Nick Pearce, 2024. "Are we any closer to tackling health inequalities in England?," Contemporary Social Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 531-554, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:rsocxx:v:19:y:2024:i:4:p:531-554
    DOI: 10.1080/21582041.2024.2430586
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/21582041.2024.2430586
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/21582041.2024.2430586?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:rsocxx:v:19:y:2024:i:4:p:531-554. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/rsoc21 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.