The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has published new survey findings about doctors’ experiences of seeing and treating health inequalities.
Between 3-16 February 2025, the RCP carried out a member snapshot survey. It included questions to gather insights into physicians’ experiences of health inequalities, the impact of these inequalities on their clinical workloads and the impact on their patients.
The RCP’s snapshot survey showed that of the 882 physicians who responded, nearly almost 9 in 10 (89%) said they were concerned about the impacts of health inequalities on their patients.
Health inequalities are the unfair and avoidable differences in people’s health across the population. The majority of health is determined by things like where we live, our jobs and transport, the air we breathe, the food we eat and whether we smoke or drink alcohol (and the availability and marketing of these products). These are often called the social determinants, or wider determinants, of health.
The other results from the RCP snapshot survey showed that:
- 72% of physicians said they had seen more patients with illnesses caused or worsened by the wider determinants of health in the past three months. [879 respondents]
- 46% of respondents said that at least half of their workload was caused by illnesses or conditions related to the social determinants of health. [857 respondents]
o Less than 3% of doctors said none of their workload was caused by the social determinants of health.
The survey questions about health inequalities gathered responses from physicians across the UK, spanning a wide range of specialties - including cardiology, respiratory medicine, and general internal medicine.
The results show that health inequalities are not only having a detrimental effect on patients, but that these avoidable disparities make up a significant amount of doctors’ workloads, with physicians reporting seeing an increase in patients with conditions caused or worsened by the wider determinants.
Tackling health inequalities and prioritising prevention are essential to reducing NHS demand and getting the health service back on track.
The RCP has long called for a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities that tackles the wider determinants of health – a call echoed by the over 250 member organisations of the Inequalities in Health Alliance, which is convened by the RCP.
The RCP welcomed the government’s manifesto commitments to tackle the social determinants of health and halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions in England. This followed the Labour party setting out in Opposition its plans for a health mission delivery board on health to ‘bring together all government departments with an influence over the social determinants of health.’
The RCP, which convenes the Inequalities in Health Alliance, has been calling for a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities since 2020, arguing that tackling the factors that make people sick in the first place is vital to reducing avoidable demand on the NHS. The health mission delivery board provides a vital opportunity to produce a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities.
The RCP says that clarity is urgently needed on the health mission board and how it will deliver the government’s manifesto commitments to tackle the factors that make us ill in the first place.
If you are a physician, and did not get a chance to respond to the survey, but would like to share your experiences of health inequalities with the RCP, please contact policy@rcp.ac.uk.
The RCP’s first snapshot survey of 2025 covered a range of topics. It was open from Monday 3 February 2025 to Sunday 16 February 2025.
882 physicians responded to the questions on health inequalities specifically.
The survey defined wider social determinants of health as ‘a diverse range of social, economic and environmental factors which impact people’s health, such as poor housing, employment, air pollution or lack of educational opportunity.’
Other topics in the survey included corridor care. The findings on corridor care can be found on the RCP website here.