Health Equity at UKHSA

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Health equity is the absence of unfair and avoidable differences in health among populations and communities. Supporting everyone to live healthier lives, with more equal outcomes is a key strategic objective of UKHSA. This means supporting populations, communities and individuals based on their needs rather than delivering a one-size-fits-all approach. To do this will require focusing on populations at the greatest risk from external health threats, and people who suffer the greatest harms.

This session will describe UKHSA’s activities and plans for meeting its health equity ambitions. We will discuss what the central UKHSA health equity team is aiming to do this year as well as our initial plans for the organisation’s three-year health equity strategy. UKHSA is still very young and there remains some uncertainty in how different parts of the organisation will work with one another and with other government departments. But there is an important and exciting opportunity to embed health equity across groups and directorates, and for UKHSA to make a difference for the country’s most vulnerable and deprived populations and communities.

Adam Briggs is Interim Deputy Director for Health Equity, Strategy and Partnerships, sharing the role with Catherine Falconer. He does this for half his week with the other half as Deputy Director of Public Health at Oxfordshire County Council. He is a medical doctor by background and has previously worked for The Health Foundation and as an academic. Through the pandemic he worked for half his week in local government with the other half based with PHE and NHS Test and Trace supporting on COVID public health strategy.

Catherine Falconer is Deputy Director for Children and Young People in the COVID-19 response and shares the Interim Deputy Director for Health Equity, Strategy and Partnerships role with Adam Briggs. Catherine has a background in academic public health and previously worked as the Consultant lead for children and young people in a Local Authority in the South West.