Survey: An Inclusion Health Monitoring System for England

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) is considering establishing an Inclusion Health Monitoring System (IHMS) for England and would like to hear your views on this.

Inclusion health is a ‘catch-all’ term used to describe people who are socially excluded. This can include people who experience homelessness, drug and alcohol dependence, vulnerable migrants, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, people who engage in sex work, people in contact with the criminal justice system and victims of modern slavery. Inclusion health groups typically experience multiple overlapping risk factors for poor health (such as poverty, violence and complex trauma) as well as stigma and discrimination.

People belonging to inclusion health groups are not consistently accounted for in electronic records (such as healthcare databases) which makes them effectively invisible for policy and service planning purposes. An IHMS would help address this inequity in health intelligence and, therefore, inform policy and enable providers of health and care services to better meet the needs of these most vulnerable individuals.

This is a challenging project due to, among other things, the limitations of the existing data which means innovative methodologies will need to be employed. Furthermore, there are risks involved in establishing an IHMS which must be considered and addressed, such as the potential to cause further stigmatisation and marginalisation.

OHID want to gather the views of a wide range of stakeholders on the need, acceptability and feasibility of an IHMS for England.

Please share your views by completing this survey which should take 5-10 minutes.