NHS England’s Statement on Information on Health Inequalities (duty under section 13SA of the National Health Service Act 2006) was published in November 2023.
Integrated care boards, trusts and foundation trusts should use this statement to identify key information on health inequalities and set out how they have responded to it in annual reports. The document sets out a range of indications which should be published by relevant NHS bodies in England.
The list does not include any MSK-specific measures, although elective care is included, of which MSK makes up a significant portion.
However, there are some specific recommendations regarding use of data not included in the statement, including community services:
- capturing and recording high quality health inequalities data about all NHS commissioned community health services.
- have regard to community health services data in line with fulfilling statutory duties on health inequalities.
This will be important data for community MSK services to use to identify areas of inequality which they may need to address.