Letters

I was disappointed with Reducing Health Inequalities - an action report , the government's response to last November's Acheson report.

The familiar lists of (admittedly constructive) action already being taken are simply not good enough.

We had the right to expect, in response to this government commissioned report, policy actions specifically tailored to Acheson's careful analysis.

A good example relates to Acheson's first recommendation - on reducing income inequality and poverty - where the government has simply ignored the important inequality issue and addressed only the need for action on poverty.

Reducing income inequality (and the ill-health it causes) involves action at both ends of income distribution. An appropriate place to start might be 'fat-cat' salaries (£100,000-plus? ) in the health service. The politics here are clearly more problematic than are those of helping the poor.

Alex Scott-Samuel EQUAL (Equity in Health Research and Development Unit) Liverpool University