Inclusion health gains momentum

An inclusion health workshop brought around 50 partnership, place, local authority and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) colleagues from across West Yorkshire together on 28 September 2023.

Inclusion health is an umbrella term used to describe people who are socially excluded, who typically experience multiple overlapping risk factors for poor health, such as poverty, violence and complex trauma. The workshop provided the opportunity to map existing provision for inclusion health groups, including people who experience homelessness, drug and alcohol dependence, vulnerable migrants, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, sex workers, those in contact with the justice system and victims of modern slavery.  

Sarah Smith, Associate Director – Improving Population Health said: “By identifying how we can make the most of our collective expertise and resources we can support these groups of people to have better access, experience, and outcomes in relation to health and care services across West Yorkshire.”

The workshop heard powerful testimonies, including from Dom, who works at Bevan as a street paramedic about his work with patients from inclusion health groups. Attendees considered what a West Yorkshire response should look like, how we develop provision to address gaps in the current ways of working and how we can work better together in the future.

The workshop also looked at how we can more meaningfully involve people with lived experience and evaluate progress so we can understand the difference we are making.

The workshop is one of our initiatives to help design an Inclusion Health Unit for West Yorkshire and shape our future policy.