News Posts

How the NHS Decides Where Money Goes

September 7th, 2025 by Ben Barr

The NHS divides its budget between different areas of the country. Places where more people have health problems (for example, Blackpool) get more money per person than places where people are generally healthier (for example, Surrey). The aim is to make sure that, no matter where you live, you can get fair access to health…

Health Inequalities and Policy Research (HIPR) Group: Summary of research findings 

February 24th, 2025 by Davara Bennett

Adult mental health and wellbeing  Journal article, 2023. Inequalities in local government spending on cultural, environmental and planning services: a time-trend analysis in England, Scotland, and Wales.  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15179-9 Local government provides Cultural, Environmental, and Planning (CEP) services, such as parks, libraries, and waste collection, that are vital for promoting health and wellbeing. In this study,…

What did local government ever do for us? An update of the evidence.

March 16th, 2023 by Alexandros Alexiou, Kate Mason, Davara Bennett, Katie Fahy, Nicholas Adjei, Konstantinos Daras, David Taylor-Robinson and Ben Barr

Levelling up health will only succeed if we invest across the whole of local government. The Government has committed to levelling up the country and ensuring that no place is left behind. A “levelling up” agenda was introduced to address the longstanding problem of the UK’s economic and social disparities by investing in local infrastructure,…

Physical Inactivity Attributable Hospital Admissions

December 22nd, 2022 by Gwilym Owen, Konstantinos Daras and Ben Barr

Physical activity is important for physical and mental health and physical inactivity has been identified as a risk factor for a range of diseases such as cardiovascular disease, stroke and certain cancers. Inequalities in physical activity participation are well documented with a difference of more than 10 percentage points in the probability of being physically…

THRIVE (Tackling Health Inequalities and Extending Working Lives)

February 11th, 2022 by Philip McHale, Ben Barr

Globally, many policymakers are facing challenges related to the demographic shift to older populations, increased life expectancy and the increased prevalence of ill health and disability. Less skilled workers have a shorter life expectancy, earlier onset of ill health, and are more likely to suffer from multiple health conditions (multi-morbidity) as they get older. Policymakers…

Investigating the geographic and ethnic inequalities in the consequences of COVID-19 at the small area level

October 1st, 2021 by Kavita Bhopal

NIHR SPHR Summer Internship Scheme in Public Health Research Kavita Bhopal Supervisor: Alex Alexiou Introduction Many believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is a ‘great equaliser’, affecting anyone – even the most privileged. However, findings suggest that some communities are at greater risk because they are unable to protect themselves like other communities do. The adverse…

What did local government ever do for us?

September 30th, 2021 by Alexandros Alexiou, Ben Barr, Kate Mason, Davara Bennett, Katie Fahy and David Taylor-Robinson

Levelling up health will only succeed if we invest across the whole of local government. By Alex Alexiou, Ben Barr, Kate Mason, Davara Bennett, Katie Fahy and David Taylor-Robinson. The Government has committed to level up the country and ensure that no place is left behind. What will be levelled up? It is not always…

Exploring the predictive capability of SAVI index for COVID19 vulnerable communities during the second wave in England

May 10th, 2021 by Konstantinos Daras, Benjamin Barr

The Small Area Vulnerability Index (SAVI) is an empirically informed measure of COVID-19 vulnerability for the 6,789 Middle Super Output Area (MSOA) in England. The SAVI index investigates the association between four predictors (proportion of the population from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, living in care homes, living in overcrowded housing and having…

All places are equal, but are some places more equal than others? Regional variation and inequalities in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

June 23rd, 2020 by Tanith Rose, Alexandros Alexiou, Konstantinos Daras, Ben Barr

Some communities have experienced the impact of the pandemic much more strongly that others, with much higher rates of infection and mortality. One-size-fits-all policies are unlikely to address the stark inequalities that COVID19 has revealed.

Exploring the vulnerability to COVID19 between communities in England

June 18th, 2020 by Konstantinos Daras, Benjamin Barr

NOTE: The blog post has been updated with the latest model changes of the SAVI index, as of July 6th, 2020. We conducted a cross-sectional ecological analysis across the 6,791 Middle Super Output Areas (MSOAs) in England. The Isles of Scilly (E02006781) and City of London (E02006781) have been excluded due to missing data in…

Excess Deaths in April and May 2020 by Local Authority in England

June 16th, 2020 by Benjamin Barr and Alexandros Alexiou

Benjamin Barr and Alexandros Alexiou May 14, 2020 Updated June 18, 2020 We carried out a preliminary analysis of the latest data on the total number of deaths occurred in April and May 2020 by lower tier Local Authority in England. The map below shows the estimated excess deaths occurred from all cases per 100,000.…