Healing Systems, Not Just People: A Blueprint for Inclusive Health

At Social Interest Group (SIG), our mission is simple, but never easy: to support people with complex needs to live healthy, fulfilled lives. Every day, our staff walk alongside individuals experiencing homelessness, mental health problems, substance use, or caught up in the criminal justice system. And every day, they witness how health inequalities compound these challenges, turning manageable conditions into crises, and routine screenings into insurmountable hurdles.

The disparities we see are not abstract. They are painfully real. They are missed cancer diagnoses, women dying decades earlier than the national average, and young men being sectioned unnecessarily under the Mental Health Act (MHA). These are outcomes of a system that is not only under strain but too often misaligned with the lived realities of those it aims to serve.

In our work, the MHA is one of the clearest examples of where reform is urgently needed, as seen in the recent Joint Parliamentary Committee Report. Black men, for instance, are over three and a half times more likely to be detained under the MHA than their white counterparts; an unacceptable disparity rooted in systemic bias. That’s why SIG is closely tracking the UK Government’s proposed MHA reforms through our Advocacy Work on Mental Health Reform. Our goal is to ensure these reforms do not become missed opportunities but instead drive real change for the communities we support.

This work is not just about policy, it’s about people. When people experience

mental health systems as punitive or dehumanising, trust is broken. That mistrust then becomes a barrier as formidable as any policy or postcode lottery. The solution, as we see it, is not more fragmentation of services, but greater unity. Multi-agency collaboration is no longer optional; it is imperative. We’ve seen what’s possible when services align.

Our partnership with NHS NW London and RM Partners to co-create cancer screening videos, shaped by the voices of service residents, has already begun dismantling barriers to early diagnosis. In Luton, our Penrose STEPS collaboration with the council and hospital trust enables medically fit individuals to leave hospital into safe, supported housing, freeing up vital NHS capacity while preventing vulnerable people from being discharged into homelessness.

These are not ideas of what could be. They are living proof that, when we combine our strengths – statutory and voluntary, medical and social – we can achieve outcomes that none of us could deliver alone.

Take our Brighton Women’s Service, where trauma-informed care is delivered in partnership with outreach nurses, substance use services, and GPs. Collaborative on-site screenings and stabilisation support enable women, many of whom have faced domestic abuse, exploitation, and systemic exclusion, to access healthcare in a safe, trusted space. This model must become the rule, not the exception.

The same principle applies to housing. With the government’s £39 billion Social

and Affordable Homes Programme underway, we urge all stakeholders to see housing not merely as a bricks-and-mortar issue but as a health intervention in itself. Supportive housing, tailored to those leaving prisons, hospitals, or care, breaks the cycle of crisis and dependency. It is proven, cost-effective and humane. We are not short on evidence. What we lack, sometimes, is coordinated will.

For lasting impact, collaboration must extend beyond project-based partnerships. We need shared use of data systems that enable joined-up care. We need joint training that builds mutual understanding between NHS staff and VCSE practitioners, and we need services that are culturally competent and co-designed with the people who use them. This work is deeply human. It’s about relationships, trust, and consistency – values embodied not only in our services but in the lived experiences of people like Andrew, who went from enduring homelessness to publishing poetry, thanks to the compassionate support of individuals and organisations that believed in his potential.

At SIG, we believe the future of equitable healthcare lies in bold, inclusive partnerships rooted in real life. We call on NHS trusts, Integrated Care Boards, local authorities, housing providers, the criminal justice system, and commissioners to join us—not in consultation but in co-production—not tomorrow but now.

The health of our society depends on how well we serve its most marginalised. We must ask ourselves: what kind of system do we want to build? One that leaves people behind, or one that meets them where they are, with dignity, care, and collaboration?

Let’s close the health gap together.