The Health Inequalities team publish our own newsletter, bringing you funding opportunities, training, resources, reports, and more.

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Health inequalities are avoidable, unfair and systematic differences in health between different groups of people. They exist as a result of systematic variation in (i) the accessibility, quality and experience of health and care services, (ii) individual behaviours and, most importantly, (iii) the wider determinants of health, such as employment, education and income.

Health inequalities in the cancer system can represent themselves as differences between groups in:

  • the risk of getting cancer
  • the proportion of people diagnosed at an early stage
  • access and experience of diagnosis, treatment, and care
  • access to and representation within research
  • representation within the workforce

At GM Cancer we are committed to tackling inequalities in cancer incidence and outcomes and improve equity in access and experience of cancer care.

We will do this be ensuring all work at the GM Cancer Alliance follows the following principles: (click on each principle to find out more).

What does this mean?

We will work with people and communities and listen to all voices, including people who often get left out.

For example:

We are committed to ensuring that the voices of people affected by cancer are at the heart of service inprovements through our GM Cancer Voices. 

What does this mean?

We will design our services to be the best possible for everyone in GM but where needed will targeted our work and resources to groups that have the most need.

For example: 

This Van Can – We worked closely with our GP practices to help them identify men at risk of prostate cancer, however knowing the risk of prostate cancer is increased in Black men we launch and engagement campaign to raise awareness.

What does this mean?

We will think about inclusion and equality of outcome in everything that we do and how we do it.

For example: 

We have a robust Equalities Impact Assessment process at GM Cancer, where all project and programmes assess how what they are going to do will impact different groups.

What does this mean?

The mix of people who work in our organisations will be similar to the people we provide services for.

For example:

Our workforce and education team are currently working to better understand who makes up our cancer workforce and how we can ensure it looks like the people who we provide services for.

What does this mean?

As anchor institutions we will build on the strengths of our communities and leverage collective power – to support communities and local economies.

For example:

Where possible we include our VCSFE and community sectors to support our work.

This work is the responsibility of the GM Cancer Health Inequalities Programme Board, who developed the GM Tackling Health Inequalities Strategy and will work to ensure the objectives set out in the document are met.

More information can be found in our GM Tackling Health Inequalities Strategy and the GM Cancer Health Inequalities Board.

The GM Cancer Health Inequalities Programme Board commissioned GMCVO to update the 2017 GM Cancer Equality and Health Inequalities Assessment. The GMCVO inequalities resource can be found here, it links to relevant resources and provides a comprehensive overview of inequalities in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care.

If you would like any more information about this work, please contact the-christie.healthinequalities@nhs.net

Meet the Team

Dan Clark
Dan ClarkHealth Inequalities Manager
Contact Dan Clark
Liam Hagerty
Liam HagertyProject Support Officer - Health Inequalities
Contact Liam Hagerty