The vision, as described in our ICS strategy, is for everyone in Cheshire and Merseyside to have a great start in life, and get the support they need to stay healthy and live longer.
We will do this by working together, as equal partners, to tackle health inequalities and improve the lives of the poorest fastest.
Joining up health and care is nothing new – we have been working towards this for some years, and we want to continue build on this excellent work. This includes further strengthening the incredible joint working we have seen throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made a massive difference to the lives of local people and their families.
We all want the very best health and wellbeing for our families, friends, communities and for ourselves. And when we need to access health and care services, we want these to provide us with the best care and the best outcomes.
Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, we engaged extensively across our partnership to understand the key health and wellbeing issues for our people and communities.
This engagement reinforced that we need to address several significant and well documented challenges. These are not unique to Cheshire and Merseyside, although some problems are worse for us locally.
Stroke, suicide, alcohol related harm and death from violent crime were all identified for targeted whole system action, together with better access to services in deprived communities.
To achieve our vision, we will need to make some tough decisions. But we must be resolute in our ambition to collaborate to deliver improved health and wellbeing of the 2.5m people of all ages living across our communities.
We have seen that it can be done. Throughout the pandemic, a shared purpose has enabled us all to fully appreciate each partner’s contribution. It’s vital to build on this as we consider our future ways of working.