Healthcare Inequalities and Ethical Resource Allocation: Reconfiguring Priority Setting Decisions to Tackle Inequalities of Access and Outcome

The NHS is a publicly funded healthcare system, and resources are not in sufficient supply to provide all beneficial treatments to everyone, everywhere, at all times. Consequently, there is a need to decide which treatments should be prioritised. This role largely falls to healthcare commissioners at the 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) across England.

Meanwhile, significant health inequalities persist throughout England. Under the Health and Care Act 2022, ICBs are statutorily required to have regard for the need to reduce health inequalities in healthcare access and outcomes when commissioning NHS healthcare.

This project utilises a mix of philosophical tools and methods from the social sciences to work alongside commissioners in developing guidance that assists them in meeting their weighty statutory obligations towards health inequalities, while also accounting for other important priorities, such as providing value for money and increasing overall population health.