The Health Inclusion theme focuses on the health and wellbeing of people, often in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent who may experience multiple disadvantage and have multiple needs. This is commonly defined as people who experience two or more of substance misuse, homelessness, mental distress, and/or offending behaviour. Often these same people have most difficulty in accessing universal services. Our work in this area aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals 3 Good health and well-being and 10 Reduced inequalities.

This theme is important because people from marginalised groups often have poorer health outcomes. The Marmot review (2010) set out six policy objectives that are required to reduce health inequalities. Included in those objectives is the need to enable all children, young people and adults to maximise their capabilities and have control over their lives, and to ensure a healthy standard of living for all. We know from The Marmot Review 10 Years On report, that far from seeing progress in these areas, the last decade has seen many inequalities widen amidst reduced public funding, particularly in the most deprived local authority areas.

Central to the Health Inclusion theme is the need for equity in the opportunities for health and access to services, whereby those most in need, receive support proportionate to that need. This is in keeping with Marmot’s notion of proportionate universalism.

All this work has been undertaken in partnership with public and third sector organisations and, central to the health inclusion work, has been CHAD’s collaboration with Expert Citizens who provide the invaluable lived experience perspective, knowledge and skills.

CHAD projects that sit within this theme are:

• VOICES Legacy Evaluation: implementation of fulfilling lives to support people experiencing multiple disadvantage in Stoke-on-Trent
• Women, homelessness and multiple disadvantage: Building on insight from the Specialist homeless women’s worker project within Housing First Stoke-on-Trent read more
• Welfare Benefits: Leading and Learning (WBLL) model in Stoke-on-Trent read more
• HARD EDGES Stoke-on-Trent: Reducing the costs of multiple needs to people and services read more
• Multi-agency Resolution Group (MaRG) evaluation read more
• COVID-19 and Homelessness: National policy at the local level read more
• Evaluation of Housing First in Stoke-on-Trent read more
• Young People and Self-harm read more
• The provision of support services for women in Stoke-on-Trent read more
• Hospital Discharge and Homelessness: Local stakeholder perspectives read more
• Evaluation of a pilot project: ‘Asking about ACEs’ (Adverse Childhood Experiences) read more
• City centre rough sleeping and street activity in Stoke-on-Trent read more

Should require any further information about, details of, or access to any of our research, projects, publications or associated publications, please contact us.