How healthy we are is not down to the healthcare we receive. In fact, only 20% of our health outcomes are linked to healthcare, with the large majority being shaped by other factors – what are called the social determinants of health or our health ‘building blocks’.
This means that people living in under-resourced communities often suffer from worse health – due to a range of things including housing, education, work, access to green spaces and income. After a century of improving health outcomes, we are now facing stagnation and, in many areas, poorer outcomes, with widening inequalities between those living in our different communities. Men and women in our least deprived wards can now expect to live, respectively, 9.4 years and 10.1 years longer than men and women in our most deprived wards. This has to change.
| Percentage of health outcomes | Factors affecting health outcomes |
|---|---|
| 40% | Socio-economic factors (Education | Job status | Family support | Income) |
| 10% | Physical environment (Housing) |
| 30% | Health behaviours (Tobacco use | Diet and exercise | Alcohol use | Sexual activity) |
| 20% | Health care (Access to care | Quality of care) |
A Marmot Place
East Suffolk Council and the East Suffolk Community Partnership Board has partnered with our two Integrated Care Boards and Suffolk County Council to implement a transformative programme known as a ‘Marmot Place’. This involves a huge range of partners working together to embed a new way of working that focuses on working together to systematically tackle inequality.
Guided by the Institute of Health Equity at University College London and building on decades of seminal academic research by Sir Michael Marmot and his team, we aim to address health inequalities by tackling their root causes, guided by the eight Marmot Principles:
- Give every child the best start in life.
- Enable all children, young people and adults to maximise their capabilities and have control over their lives.
- Create fair employment and good work for all.
- Ensure a healthy standard of living for all.
- Create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities.
- Strengthen the role and impact of ill health prevention.
- Tackle racism, discrimination and their outcomes.
- Pursue environmental sustainability and health equity together.
What happens now?
Phase One: Analysis, Governance, Engagement, and Process 1 (Approximately 6 months – September 2025 – March 2026)
Objective: To understand health inequalities and their underlying causes in East Suffolk, leading to prioritisation of issues and locations.
Phase Two: Work on Priority Areas and Health Equity System Development 2 (Approximately 9 months – April to December 2026)
Objective: To develop prioritised recommendations for action (both thematic and place based) and strengthen the health equity system.
Phase Three: Recommendations and Implementation Plans (Approximately 9 months – January to August 2027)
Objective: To finalise recommendations, develop a detailed implementation plan, and assess programme impact.
For more information, please contact us by email at marmot@eastsuffolk.gov.uk