In early 2021, Lancashire & Cumbria ICS, ICP Execs, Directors of Public Health and CCGs Chairs committed to form a regional Lancashire & Cumbria Health Inequalities Commission (HIC) to improve health inequalities and make a step change in people’s health. This has now been renamed as the Health Equity Commission (HEC).

The Chair of our HEC is Professor Sir Michael Marmot. The HEC will consist of a balanced panel comprising regional leaders/influencers and independent experts.
The HIC aims to provide local organisations, partners and Integrated Care Partnerships the support to make health inequalities and the ‘prevention agenda’ our joint priority and provide them with a clear voice in the region & ICS.

We are establishing the HEC during 2021 with the aim of taking action starting in 2022. Our initial scope is:

• Influence all LSC partners in mobilising care to reduce health inequalities and its role in the economy
• Focus on the social determinants for health, with reference to poverty/deprivation, building on the work of the health focus in the Local Enterprise Partnerships and the Greater Lancashire Plan & equivalent Cumbria plan
• Creating healthy and sustainable places and communities with a focus on empowerment of people in decision-making that shapes policy at neighbourhood, place and system
• Creating good/healthy workforce and a focus on technology and innovation that supports prevention to aid economic recovery
• Important times of life, in particular giving children and young people a good start in life with a focus on the first 1000 days

During autumn 2021 we are asking ICPs, DPHs and HWBBs to help shape this scope and HECs agenda to one that will support them, regional partners and our communities best address our long-standing health inequalities. We need them to identify their priorities, barriers to their work and opportunities/ideas that the HEC can help them deliver and resolve.

Our aim is to introduce the HEC, its purpose and ambitions and ask for support to change our region for the better. The target audience is deliberately wide so we can engage the leaders, stakeholders and deliverers of health care but also those that affect health through the wider determinants of health, such as housing, employment/economy, transport, place, community etc.

This means ‘Introducing the HEC’ will address colleagues & organisations linked to regional partnerships including ICS, ICPs, local authorities, universities, VCFSE, economic bodies such as our LEPs, key services including our Police and Fire services, housing and care providers. Infact, the reduction of health inequalities is everyone's business so we are welcoming everyone who wants to make a difference and improve the lives of Lancashire and Cumbria residents.