Luton's Health Equity Town - HET Activities
In 2021, as part of Luton’s strategic 2040 vision, Luton Borough Council, in its efforts to encourage a health equity approach to improving health and wellbeing in Luton, became a Marmot Place. Since then, Luton has adopted and supported the embedding of strategies to tackle health inequalities and promote actions that impact the building blocks of health.
The council has facilitated and promoted activities that enable its partners to work together across the eight Marmot principles. To support the development of our Marmot Town report, we established a steering group of partners across the system to obtain buy-in.
The work of the steering group contributed to the Reducing Health Inequalities in Luton: A Marmot Town report. The steering group has also coordinated actions across four agreed priority areas.
To find out more, please see: Luton 2040
Our priorities
Our priorities
Luton's Health Equity Town - HET Activities
Communications:
We have developed a newsletter, where health equity system partners can contribute and share their learning.
One year On Conference:
In 2023, the Luton Public Health team convened a system-wide conference to celebrate its successes and plan for the coming year. The conference hosted over 80 delegates and featured more than 18 case studies submitted by various partners, showcasing how their organisations were tackling health inequalities. For information about our 2024 Conference, go to News and Events.
Health Equity Town Partnership:
As part of Luton’s Health and Wellbeing governance structure. Luton hosts a system wide partnership focusing on the wider determinants of health and activities supporting community groups to deliver on improving health equity.
Case Studies:
We have encouraged case
studies from partners to showcase their work. We continue
to work with our principle
mental health provider East
London Foundation Trust
(ELFT) who are also a
Marmot Trust.
See our Case Studies Page
Marmot Principles
Sir Michael Marmot has led work in this area for many years and leads the University College London (UCL) “Institute of Health Equity” (IHE). The Marmot Review into health inequalities in England published in 2010 proposed an evidence-based strategy to address these social determinants of health. The first National Marmot Review in 2010 introduced six principles; broad policy objectives aimed at improving the conditions of everyday life and reducing social-economic inequalities. Two more principles have since been added to make more explicit considerations of discrimination and sustainability, which are essential to equity. The eight Marmot principles are:
Enable all children, young people and adults to maximise their capabilities and have control over their own lives
Give every child the best start in life
Create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities
Create fair employment and good work for all
Ensure a healthy standard of living for all
Strengthen the role and impact of ill-health prevention
Tackle discrimination, racism and their outcomes
Pursue environmental sustainability and health equity together
The Institute of Health Equity (IHE) is working with local authorities up and down the country to do what they can, to implement the right approaches to reduce health inequalities. The Public Health department of Luton Borough Council commissioned IHE to support the local authority and other partners to act on health inequalities and become the first ‘Marmot Town’, joining the other ‘Marmot Places’ that are working with the IHE to prioritise health equity. The report, Reducing Health Inequalities in Luton: A Marmot Town, is based on an assessment of data and local evidence and makes recommendations to reduce health inequalities and make Luton a fairer place to live, work, grow up and grow old in.
Luton Health Equity Town's Recommendations
Increase the provision of Flying Start early years services beyond the current highly-targeted approach, developing the universal approach while retaining proportionate focus on areas with higher levels of deprivation. Reduce child poverty by ensuring that early years and maternity services, Voluntary, Community, Faith, Social Enterprise (VCFSE) organisations and employers support households to access available benefits and services and pay a living wage. Assess maternity leave policies and support for child care by all employers, including public sector and private businesses. Build on Luton’s success in school readiness with a system-wide ambition to bring all children above the average for pupils in England.
