Our Closing the Gap event brought together colleagues from across North Central London to focus on inequality

News - 16 February 2026

The voluntary sector is uniquely well placed to play a leadership role in tackling health inequalities.

Asian man making a point about health inequality at a meeting in Islington Town Hall

Not everyone has the same opportunity to be healthy, and this is often due to unfair social or economic conditions. Last week’s Closing the Gap event brought together colleagues from across North Central London to explore new ways of working together, across sectors and geographical boundaries, to better meet the challenge of health inequality.

94 people attended, with around 50% representing voluntary sector organisations. Local authorities and other statutory bodies were also well represented, as were health and care professions. Other colleagues worked in areas such as policy and commissioning.

Thanks to everyone who attended and gave their time, insight and honesty. This is how change begins.

Laura Saksena, Chief Executive, Healthwatch Islington

We welcomed many excellent speakers. Dr Sara Hyde, Executive Member for Health and Social Care for Islington Council, shared her perspective on health inequalities in the borough. Dr Geoffrey Ocean, the chief executive of The Bridge Renewal Trust, provided regional insight, and Jeremy Corbyn, MP for Islington North, presented the national picture.

Sigal Avni and Satoko Fujishiro from Islington Mind showcased their work on the Inequalities Toolkit. There was also a panel discussion and question and answer session with panellists Yasin Ahmed, the chief executive of Nafsiyat Intercultural Therapy Centre; Stephen Heard, director of Healthwatch Camden; and Michelle Williams, Senior Integration and Partnerships Manager at the NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board.

"This was an excellent event and a great way to get people who make a difference in one room together, talking."

Participant feedback

Voluntary organisations have a crucial role to play

With its unique reach and influence, the voluntary sector is ideally placed to lead on tackling health inequalities. As a sector, our key strengths include:

deep community trust
the ability to reach vulnerable groups
high levels of innovation
a specialised knowledge of local need

Our chief executive, Laura Saksena, explained our ambitions for this work:

"As Healthwatch, our role is to listen but also to convene. We are privileged to sit in lots of different spaces and meet different parts of the system. We’ve been deliberate about bringing together voices from different levels, local, regional and national, because inequality doesn’t sit neatly at one scale, and neither do the solutions.

"That’s what this event has been about: bringing together people who don’t always sit in the same room, whether that’s voluntary sector leaders, system partners, researchers, or elected officials, to ask what needs to change in how we work, how we partner, and how power is shared - if we’re serious about making progress on inequality."

Attendees networking at 'Closing the Gap' event in February 2026 at Islington Town Hall

What have participants gained?

New connections and perspectives
Clearer questions/ideas about inequality and participant's own role in addressing it
Hope about what’s possible, and how we get there
Every single person who completed the feedback form said that attending had inspired them to take new action or approaches in their work.