Social Inclusion and Health

In recent years there has been growing awarenss of the multiple factors that contribute to social exclusion and inequality in our society, the way these factors interact and are related to one another and the impact of exclusion on the social and economic landscape.

As a result, policy priorities have shifted towards the provision of 'holistic support' that identifies and addresses the whole range of factors that impact negatively on an individual's quality of life and life chances.

This aspect of our work therefore cuts across a wide range of policy areas including health and well being, social care employability, inclusion, early years and tackling poverty.

Tackling inequalities is key to improving outcomes for the population, in the medium to long term, by breaking the cycle of inter generational poverty. Our work in this area covers the following:

• Evaluating and helping to develop programmes that build the personal, social and employability skills of participants and support them to address the barriers and risks they face. This often includes tackling health harming behaviors (e.g. drugs, alcohol, smoking and healthy weight);
• Early interventionand addressing inequalities in the early years;
• Patient dignity and the patient/care user experience;
• Health and social care workforce profiling and development;
• Anticipatory care;
• Impact of training and employment on physical, social and emotional health and well being.

While employability has been a feature of policy to increase social inclusion and tackle poverty for many years, the links between inclusion and health have become much closer. Indeed there has been recent discussion by the UK Government about the importance of a continued focus on the joint themes of health inclusion.

Our work on the inclusion agenda also covers sub sectors such as financial inclusion, fuel poverty, child poverty and diversity issues such as ethnicity, disability, age and gender. As well as health and inclusion, areas that our team has substantial experience in are:

• worklessness
• disability
• age
• children, young people, families and parenting

In our inclusion work we are committed to participatory research. To gather evidence from service users we use a range of innovative and creative techniques including drama activities, video interviewing, patient stories, scenarios, art based activities and storytelling.

Contact Tim Allan on 0845 644 5407or email: tim.allan@ekosgen.co.uk

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