The NHS Confederation and the Institute for Public Policy Research are to partner to explore how the NHS, public services and local government can work together to build health across a whole health economy.

Working in close collaboration with integrated care systems, the review, part of IPPR’s Commission on Health and Prosperity, will consider how health and growth agendas can be combined in places. It will develop a bold, new and implementable reform proposition for building more collaborative, healthy and prosperous places.

The announcement comes as a new IPPR report warns that the UK’s health inequalities and ineffective policies mean people are living shorter lives, with more years spent in poor health, and face greater barriers to staying in and getting on at work.

Matthew Taylor, NHS Confederation chief executive, said: “The pandemic has shown how deep health inequalities shape and cut across the lives and livelihoods of people across the country. Yet this is not new, disparities in health have not suddenly appeared, they have been part of the make-up of our society for decades. As millions of people now face the reality of a cost-of-living crisis there is an urgent need for a much bolder and more strident approach to tackling inequalities to create improved population health and stronger economic well-being.

“NHS leaders know all too well the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people living in more deprived areas, and from ethnic minority backgrounds but systemic inequality was an issue long before the pandemic and it is vital that it is addressed once and for all."