National Inclusion Health Network
The National Inclusion Health Network (NIHN) is led by lived and learned experience and facilitated by key national Inclusion Health organisations and individuals.
It brings together partners from across the health and care system, including local authorities, service commissioners, hospital trusts, mental health teams, Integrated Care Teams (ICTs), Primary Care Networks (PCNs), VCSE organisations, and Integrated Care Boards. The network provides a space to raise voices, hold systems to account, share best practice, and use collective expertise to drive positive change for Inclusion Health groups, ensuring that the insights and expertise of those with lived experience shape services, policies, and frameworks going forward.
If you’re interested in joining, please complete this short form. Updates on the network’s activities will be shared as it develops.
About Inclusion Health:
Inclusion Health is an umbrella term describing work to address barriers to good health for people who are often systematically excluded from healthcare. These people often face multiple overlapping risk factors for poor health, such as poverty, violence, and complex trauma.
The communities in scope are (with approximate population sizes where data is available):
- People who experience homelessness (~25,000)
- People with drug and alcohol dependence
- Vulnerable migrants and refugees (~200,000)
- Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities (~300,000)
- People in contact with the justice system (~50,000)
- Victims of modern slavery
- Sex workers (~100,000)
People who experience compound or layered disadvantages due to the interaction of multiple social identities, such as race and/or class, may be considered as experiencing intersecting disadvantage. For inclusion health groups, this can take the form (but not limited to):
- Discrimination and stigma
- Violence and trauma
- Poverty
- Invisibility in health data sets
The impact experienced by inclusion health groups includes (but not limited to):
- Insecure or unsafe accommodation
- Poor access to and poor quality of healthcare provision
- Poor experience of public services
- Significantly poorer health than people in other socially disadvantaged groups
Why Inclusion Health matters:
Without targeted support, people in Inclusion Health groups are at greater risk of poor health outcomes and further exclusion. This not only widens existing inequalities but also affects the overall effectiveness of health and care systems. Getting services right for Inclusion Health groups means creating a fairer, more equitable system that works better for everyone.
The NHS’s new 10-year plan sets out a long-term vision for improving health outcomes and reducing inequalities across the country. For Inclusion Health groups, this plan is particularly important because it:
- Provides a clear framework for Integrated Care Boards to identify, address, and strengthen support for the needs of the most marginalised at place based and neighbourhood levels.
- Embeds equity and inclusion into planning, commissioning, and service delivery.
- Involves Inclusion Health groups in shaping priorities and strategic plans to reflect real experiences.
- Strengthens accountability for tackling inequalities at local and system-wide levels.
- Integrates the five Inclusion Health principles from the national framework for NHS – action on inclusion health into future planning, moving from isolated actions to lasting, system-wide change.
In a snapshot, this graph demonstrates the extent of health inequalities experienced by inclusion health groups, from least to most deprived:
NIHN standards:
These are the standards we share as a network:
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Inclusive and ethical participation
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- Ensure representation across age, gender, ethnicity, geography, and lived experience.
- Working towards lived experience shaping commissioning and planning.
- Recruit ethically through trusted relationships, with attention to trauma risks and informed consent.
- Participation is always voluntary and does not affect access to services.
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Safety, wellbeing, and respect
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- Support participant wellbeing with safeguarding and wellbeing checks.
- Maintain confidentiality and anonymity in all outputs.
- Foster respectful, safe spaces for participation, including options for one-to-one engagement.
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Meaningful influence and feedback
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- Involve participants in shaping strategy, policy, and research through co-design and shared decision-making.
- Provide a clear feedback loop, showing how input shapes outcomes.
- Support equal voice by addressing power dynamics and accessibility needs during facilitation.
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Support, training, and fair compensation
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- Offer practical and emotional support, including counselling, supervision, transport, and childcare.
- Provide training to empower participation, such as public speaking or advocacy skills.
- Compensate participants fairly for their time and contributions.
Collaborations and Partnerships:
We're Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT) and we're a national organisation seeking to to end discrimination and support the rights of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities.
FFT is a strategic partner of the Department of Health, NHS England, and UK Health Security Agency, and represents these communities in the Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise Health and Wellbeing Alliance (HWBA), a national network improving health outcomes and tackling inequalities.
FFT also provides the Alliance secretariat and co-chairs its Inclusion Health subgroup, shaping policies and initiatives that promote equity and inclusion.
We’re proud to work alongside a number of national and local organisations committed to reducing health inequalities, including:
Spectra CIC
Spectra CIC provides sexual health and wellbeing services to marginalised populations across London, including People living with HIV, Trans People, and Young LGBTQ+ people. Our services are led and delivered by staff with lived experience because we believe the best healthcare blossoms from a place of connection and understanding.
Our sex worker support service is called The ALEX Project (Advocates with Lived Experience). ALEX provides holistic support, offering: Safer Sex and Harm Reduction Supplies; Drop-in Sessions; Counselling; Casework Advocacy; and Online Discussion Groups with Peers on various topics. For referrals or more information, visit www.askforalex.org.uk or contact Lara Murray, Sex Worker Services and Strategy Lead, at [email protected]
Hepatitis C Trust
The Hepatitis C Trust (HCT) work with people who face severe health inequalities, including people who have or may have hepatitis C.
Founded in 2001, we’ve grown from a small campaigning charity to one of the largest lived experience organisations in the UK. Our staff and volunteers work in every community NHS area, and in every prison, in England and in parts of Wales and Scotland. We’re a peer-led organisation; almost all our staff and volunteers have lived experience relevant to the work they do and the people they support. Our Inclusion Health Peer Support services include education, testing and support programmes for hepatitis B & C and HIV, cancer, harm reduction and several other areas. We work closely with lots of partner organisation and are always keen to meet others working, or with an interest in this area. Contact Leila Reid, [email protected]
EPIC
EPIC is a small engagement organisation that originated in 2015 with a clear aim: to help improve health for people in the criminal justice system. Since then, we’ve spoken with thousands of people about a wide variety of health-related issues, always focusing on making sure the voices of those with lived experience are front and centre. We elevate these voices in their raw form to those making decisions and directing the funding, with the hope this will positively shape future services.
A key feature of our work is training and supporting people who’ve been through the justice system to take leading roles, in shaping and conducting research, supporting universities in public involvement (PPI) roles, or helping organisations understand what really matters to those with lived experience. Our work includes running health forums, co-creating health information, doing research, supporting networks, and helping shape strategies—with lived experience always at the heart of what we do.
Since inception, we’ve naturally found ourselves involved in wider inclusion health projects too due to the overlap between criminal justice and other forms of disadvantage, and we welcome partnerships with other specialist organisations who share similar foundations and values to us at EPIC. Contact – [email protected]
Expert Focus
Expert Focus - is a peer led organisation that works to embed lived experience more broadly across the sector. We create and support involvement groups that bring honest insights from people with experience of homelessness and disadvantage, design and deliver lectures for a number of the UK's top universities and provide training and logistical support for a number of NHS and 3rd Sector partners to enable them to embrace the concept of 'lived experience' in their organisations. Our services include inclusive employment support, peer-led research, independent evaluations, and tailored training. We also design workshops, lectures, and data collection to help organisations improve services and understand impact. Contact Stan Burridge [email protected] to find out more.
