Health equity in England: the Marmot review 10 years on

On 25 February 2020, the Institute of Health Equity published Health equity in England: the Marmot review 10 years on.

Led by Professor Sir Michael Marmot and commissioned by the Health Foundation, the work examined progress in addressing health inequalities in England since the publication of the Fair society, healthy lives: the Marmot review in 2010. The 2010 report had outlined the causes of health inequalities, focusing on the ‘social determinants’ of health. It had called for action from central and local government, the NHS, the third and private sectors and community groups to reduce inequalities.

Key findings

The Marmot review 10 years on found that little progress had been made to reduce health inequalities in England. It found that over the past decade:

• Improvements in life expectancy had stalled, and for the poorest 10% of women had declined
• People were living more of their lives in ill-health
• The health gap between the least and most deprived areas had increased
• Differences in life expectancy between and within regions had increased.

Parliamentary debate

On 4 March 2020, in a debate on health inequalities, the opposition put forward a motion which noted the findings of the report and called on the government to act on the social determinants of health. The motion was rejected, and the amended motion agreed upon stated that: ‘Government is committed to level up outcomes to reduce the health gap between wealthy and deprived areas’.