Cheshire and Merseyside has successfully become a signatory of the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Prevention Concordat for Better Mental Health.
The Concordat is underpinned by an understanding that taking a prevention-focused approach to improving the public’s mental health has been shown to make a valuable contribution to achieving a fairer and more equitable society. The concordat promotes evidence-based planning and commissioning to increase the impact on reducing health inequalities.
The subregion’s application, which has been led by the Collaborative. supported by NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, and included input from across the system, was praised for its strength across all areas of assessment, as well as how clearly the case was made for how the Concordat would help with working together and improving programme management.
Speaking about this good news, Ruth du Plessis, Director of Public Health for St Helens and the Collaborative’s Lead Director for Suicide Prevention, said:
“I am delighted that Cheshire and Merseyside has been approved to join the Concordat and thanks to this, the area will benefit from access to a community of practice, a prevention Concordat workspace and other really helpful resources.
“We know that improving mental health and reducing the number of suicides in our area takes a whole-system, inequalities-focussed approach, and being part of this work will do just that. I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has been involved in the application process, in particular Sue Forster, who is currently working in the Champs Support Team as a Public Health Consultant, for expertly bringing this application and our system together.”