All Together Active
A system-wide strategy for Physical Activity for health and social care, commissioned by the Integrated Care System Population Health Board, developed by Active Cheshire and MSP in conjunction with place-based and regional partners
Who is All Together
Active aimed at?
All Together Active is aimed at strategic and place-based partners across Cheshire and Merseyside in a position to influence systemic changes in physical activity at scale.
Introduction
Cheshire and Merseyside is the third largest Integrated Care System (ICS) in England, covering a population of 2.7 million people (Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership). It brings together 9 ‘Places’ (Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens, Wirral and Warrington) across a large and diverse subregion.
The Integrated Care System vision 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. However, we face multiple challenges, including stark health inequalities between the richest and the poorest neighbourhoods. These challenges are detailed in the 2022 All Together Fairer Report for Cheshire and Merseyside.
Whilst not a panacea for health inequality, physical activity has been identified as a key tool in health improvement and is represented in the All Together Fairer Marmot Beacon Indicators to tackle health inequalities.
The All Together Active strategy sets out how we plan to capitalise on this opportunity by working with partners across the subregion to build physical activity into both health and social care and the wider settings people move through.
The strategy is aimed at strategic partners in a position to influence systemic changes in physical activity at scale.
If physical activity were a drug, we would refer to it as a miracle cure, due to the great many illnesses it can prevent and help treat’
The UK Chief Medical Officer, 2019
Foreword
The Cheshire and Merseyside subregion faces multiple stubborn health inequalities resulting in a gap between the highest and lowest life expectancy of 14.3 years for men and 15.8 for women (All Together Fairer, 2022). This gap is simply too great.
Though much good work has been done in the past, there is a pressing need for fresh ways to tackle the complex issues involved.
In response to the challenge, we have developed our new system-wide All Together Fairer approach. Informed by Professor Sir Michael Marmot, the approach brings together public, private and third sector organisations determined to make change happen and build a fairer, healthier Cheshire and Merseyside. The All Together Active strategy set out here targets the role of physical activity in helping achieve that goal.
Driven by place-based priorities, All Together Active leverages scale and collaboration to unlock the full potential of physical activity across the subregion.
Currently, far too few people in Cheshire and Merseyside meet the NHS physical activity guidelines. Half a million adults in the subregion are inactive, (Sport England Active Lives, 2022) with many facing barriers to physical activity because of issues around gender, race, disability, poverty, sexuality, religion and parental status.
Yet physical inactivity costs the NHS around £1bn per year across the UK (NICE) and is a major contributor to both illness and reduced life expectancy. This strategy aligns closely with both the NHS Long Term Plan and the Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership (ICP) Interim Strategy 2023-28.
We are excited to see how All Together Active will help unite us in empowering our communities most in need, providing innovative, place-based opportunities to be active that can be scaled across our subregion.
Professor Ian Ashworth
Director of Population Health for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, and Chair of the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Population Health Board
Get Involved
If your organisation would like to be involved in progressing the work at a local or a subregional level then get involved today!