ABSTRACT
Whilst health services make an important contribution to keeping people healthy and helping them when they are ill, there are many other factors which have a direct influence on people's health. The factors found to have the most significant influence on health are known as the wider determinants of health and include education, employment, housing, crime, social exclusion and the environment. Health inequalities are the result of a complex and wide-ranging network of factors. People who experience material disadvantage, poor housing, lower educational attainment, insecure employment or homelessness are among those more likely to suffer poorer health outcomes and an earlier death compared with the rest of the population.
