Embedding inclusion health in undergraduate medical education: a curriculum development report from Anglia Ruskin University
Elizabeth Louise Field, Jo-Anne Johnson, Sanjiv Ahluwalia, Colin Melville, Margaret GreenfieldsAbstract
Background:
Inclusion health focuses on populations systematically excluded from healthcare including people experiencing homelessness, vulnerable migrants, and those with justice system involvement. Despite political commitments to National Health Service (NHS) equity, inclusion health remains inconsistently embedded in undergraduate medical curricula. This curriculum development report describes an educator workshop undertaken to identify priorities and practical strategies for embedding inclusion health within a medical school curriculum.
Methods:
A structured workshop was conducted during Anglia Ruskin University School of Medicine’s 2025 Annual Educator Day. Multidisciplinary educators from a range of organisations participated. Small-group discussions explored four areas: populations affected by healthcare exclusion, barriers to access and engagement, challenges to student involvement in inclusion health settings, and opportunities for curriculum development. Emerging priorities were shared during a plenary session to confirm resonance with discussions. Subsequent structured thematic synthesis of facilitator notes identified curriculum priorities and implementation strategies.
Curriculum development outcomes:
Educators described current inclusion health exposure as incidental, fragmented, and insufficiently supported. Key challenges included stigma, mistrust, digital exclusion, limited placement capacity, and a lack of structured student preparation and debriefing. Priorities for curriculum development included longitudinal community-based primary care placements, stronger partnerships with third-sector organizations and people with lived experience, integration of inclusion health across professionalism, leadership and wellbeing teaching, and incorporation of inclusion health competencies into assessment.
Implications for primary health care education:
Embedding inclusion health within undergraduate medical education requires intentional curriculum design aligned with primary care realities, national policy, and assessment frameworks. Development-focused approaches offer practical routes to strengthening equity-focused competencies across both newly established and long-standing medical schools.