How the built environment can impact our health: contributing to the TCPA’s healthy homes campaign
In this blog, Professor Carol Brayne, RCP special adviser for population health, talks about our contribution to the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) guidance.
Our health is a product of our environments; when we spend so much of our lives at home, at work or travelling between them, it is important that places are built in ways that support good health rather than contribute against it.
The RCP has had a focus on health inequalities for a number of years, with a dedicated advisory group established in 2019 to support work to address the ways in which population health and health inequalities between the most and least deprived populations can be improved. This year, we have worked with the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) to contribute to a piece of guidance they have produced for local authorities on how to implement their Healthy Homes principles when planning for new homes.
The link between our health and our surrounding built environment is undeniable. The RCP 2023 census of UK consultant physicians found that 55% of respondents had seen an increase in patients with conditions caused or exacerbated by the wider determinants of health in the previous three months. When asked to elaborate, many physicians explained that factors such as cold, damp housing, mould, heating costs, and air pollution were worsening patient health. This makes it no surprise that 85% of physicians said they were concerned about the impacts of health inequalities on their patients.
Our contribution to the guidance produced by TCPA highlights how the built environment can affect our health. It acknowledges that it is not housing alone that affects health, but how buildings are placed in a neighbourhood, including proximity to transport routes, access to amenities such as supermarkets, green spaces, and healthcare providers. Our infographic illustrates the link between health, housing and the built environment and demonstrates the importance of both building and neighbourhood planning. We hope the TCPA guidance document will aid local authorities in thinking about the actions they can take to ensure health is at the centre of their planning and building processes.
The effect of housing on our health once again proves why we need the government to commit to a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities. When so much of our health is shaped by wider determinants such as housing, employment, food and drink, transport, and air pollution, the NHS, nor the Department of Health and Social Care, cannot address these problems alone. We need action to ensure that we have access to things like safe homes and affordable healthy food which affect our health so much. Collective action across government departments is needed to address the reasons why people get sick in the first place and create a system that is truly preventative.
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