Implementation of health-justice partnerships: Integrating legal advice and healthcare services

This PhD focused on partnerships between health services and organisations specialising in welfare rights. These partnerships provide welfare rights advice alongside patient care, supporting people with issues such as benefits, debt, housing and employment. They are important in tackling poverty-related issues that can impact on health and are therefore a promising intervention against health inequalities.

These ‘health-justice partnerships’ exist across the UK and the across the world in a wide variety of forms. This research studied their implementation, aiming to identify how they can be designed and delivered successfully in practice.

Diverse partnerships from across England took part in the research as case studies. The findings from this work describe the factors that can influence successful implementation, including collaborative working between partner services, sustainability of the partnerships over time, and the impacts which they can generate.

The summary report is available below, and includes recommendations for policy and practice.

The research informs UCL’s ongoing work on health justice partnerships. This includes further research, as well as engagement with local and national organisations to support practice in this area. This work is hosted by the UCL Faculty of Laws in collaboration with UCL Health of the Public. Further information is available here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/health-of-public/health-justice-partnerships

The study found that close collaboration between healthcare professionals and welfare advice staff was a key factor in the effective implementation of Health Justice Partnerships (HJPs). The sustainability of these partnerships was primarily influenced by resource constraints and shifts in strategic priorities, which often determined whether services continued or were closed. The research also contributed to ongoing work supporting the development and advocacy of HJPs across the UK, leading to the creation of further resources including an implementation guide and a report on funding models.

University College London 

Kings College London