Most substantial challenges for healthcare organisations to address in 2024

Tackling health inequalities is a tremendous challenge.  It requires healthcare organisations to understand the demographics, lifestyles, behaviours, needs, and external pressures that individuals across the country face daily with greater accuracy. Access to accurate and detailed data significantly impacts an organisation’s ability to develop a robust response to inequalities and determine which services will meet local needs.  

In our recent webinar for NHS England on “Tackling Health Inequalities with Effective Data & Insight”, we explored the impact of our datasets and insights on NHS England’s ability to tackle current health inequalities and devise strategies to improve future outcomes.  

So, what have the findings from our various datasets and our Voice of the Nation (VOTN) Q1 2024 survey shown regarding the behaviours and health concerns of different demographic and affluence groups across the UK? How can healthcare organisations apply these findings to improve outcomes for their local communities? 

Half of the survey respondents are concerned about their personal wellbeing and mental health

Personal wellbeing and mental health are incredibly important considerations for the NHS. According to our survey results, these have been hugely concerning for people of various ages across the UK, with 50% of our VOTN Q1 2024 survey respondents claiming to be concerned about both. This is the highest number of respondents for these sentiments that CACI has ever seen in the four years of this survey being conducted, demonstrating the need for healthcare organisations to review their current offering of personal wellbeing and mental health services avoiding a ‘one size fits all’ approach that targets all ages.  

Millennials are the most concerned of all age groups about their health

While the traditional assumption may be that younger generations are more carefree and less preoccupied with the concerns of the world, our survey results have shown the opposite. Millennials were the most concerned of all age groups (from Boomers to Gen Z) for their personal wellbeing and mental health, with more than two-thirds feeling this way. This further reiterates the necessity of ensuring that all age groups—particularly Millennials—are offered relevant personal wellbeing and mental health services. 

Affluence does not shield from health concerns

Our survey results indicated that personal wellbeing and mental health concerns have been affecting individuals across all affluence levels. While one might assume that higher-affluence individuals experience fewer wellbeing and mental health concerns, our findings revealed that as many as half of the respondents from the higher-affluence Acorn categories of Luxury Lifestyles and Established Affluence expressed concern about these aspects of their lives. Respondents from the Low Income Living Acorn category expressed the highest level of concern for both areas.  

These insights provide concrete evidence for healthcare organisations to tailor their services based on the specific needs of different affluence groups, rather than relying on open data or assumptions. These results demonstrate the right healthcare services must be accessible across all affluence levels.  

How can CACI help?

CACI can help healthcare organisations tackle health inequalities, supporting a range of clinical areas of health inequalities from severe mental illness (SMI) to maternity and chronic respiratory disease (CPD) to early cancer diagnosis, hypertension case-finding and more. Our partnership with NHS England provides all 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) with free access to a variety of datasets that are being used to tackle health inequalities.

Contact us today to learn more about our partnership with NHS England or to find out how our datasets can improve outcomes for your healthcare organisation.