Address the continuing disparities in health and social care for disabled people 

“Health equity for persons with disabilities will only be achieved if disability-inclusive strategies are integrated into mainstream health actions”

A crucial part of inclusive wellbeing is health equity; which involves ensuring that all individuals have fair and just access to health resources and opportunities. This requires integrated, disability-inclusive strategies embedded within mainstream health initiatives. Whilst the NHS has strategies and policies to address this, for example with the introduction of integrated care systems, the key is ensuring equitable implementation for disabled people nationwide. Whilst improvements have been made, there are inequities depending on where you live, but ICSs provide an opportunity to ensure that healthcare services for disabled individuals are streamlined, reducing fragmentation and improving access to comprehensive care.

I recommend:

• Training for healthcare professionals on disability going beyond the traditional disability awareness training to ensure diagnostic overshadowing becomes a thing of the past.

• Community programmes and projects implementation. These are essential to address local issues and can have a far-reaching impact and adequate funding for these is essential. For example, a community nutrition programme for disabled people, similar to the Tas Healthy Eating Programme. Nutrition is a key aspect of physical wellbeing and nutrition through the lens of disability is often forgotten.

• Introduce The Disability Inclusive Health Services toolkit in the NHS. Alongside the toolkit itself, there is an extensive training package to enable knowledge, translation and application of the toolkit content. While it was specifically produced to strengthen efforts in the Western Pacific Region, the toolkit was made to be flexible and adaptable to various settings and therefore I’d recommend both the training and toolkit be introduced within healthcare settings.

• Building upon The Disability Inclusive Health Services toolkit, introduce the WHO’s Disability Guide for Action at a government level. It supports ministries of health to identify entry points and plan appropriate actions to strengthen disability inclusion across their health sector and aligning with international standards and domestic legal frameworks that uphold the right of persons with disabilities to the highest attainable standard of health.