Over 155 members organisations of the Inequalities in Health Alliance (IHA) signed a letter to Dr Thérèse Coffey ahead of Conservative party conference, urging the secretary of state for health and social care to maintain the commitment to publishing a Health Disparities White Paper (HDWP) by the end of this year.

Convened by the Royal College of Physicians, the IHA says the HDWP is a vital opportunity for government to set out how every Department will work together to tackle the factors that cause ill health in the first place such as poor housing, lack of educational opportunity, child poverty, communities and place, employment, racism and discrimination, transport and air pollution.

The IHA is a coalition of over 200 organisations representing patients, communities, doctors, nurses, public health and social care professionals, dentists, pharmacists, academics, local authorities and more, including the Society for Endocrinology.

Read the letter