Equity for Outpatients
This project is in collaboration with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. It began after hospital data showed the stark inequity of access in several outpatient specialties, with certain patient groups up to 50% more likely to miss appointments.
First outpatient appointments are an important gateway for people to receive a diagnosis or the specialty care they need, and so missed appointments lead to poorer health outcomes and experiences in certain populations. This can widen health inequalities.
Our aim is to improve first outpatient appointment attendance for people who have unequal access based on their ethnicity and level of deprivation. We are working with members of the public from these groups to identify barriers they face and co-design ways to support people to attend their appointments. We will test which approaches have the greatest impact in a research study and scale the best methods.
