This session will offer a unique opportunity to hear from Cheshire & Wirral NHS Partnership Trust (CWP), Active Cheshire (the Active Partnership for Cheshire and Warrington and a system partner in the Cheshire & Merseyside ICS), and other key system partners about how a collaborative place-based approach is helping to address stark physical health inequalities among people living with severe mental illness (SMI) in our communities.
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s (CWP) Mental Health Intensive Support Team (MHIST) is an award-winning team provides rehabilitation services for people with complex needs. The highly specialised team specifically support people with their transition from hospital to living back at home in their own communities. MHIST have a number of stated aims including to meet the needs of the local population, improve quality of care and improve patient experience by reducing the need for readmittance to hospital. The clinical model was developed in collaboration with Liverpool John Moore’s University and was informed by feedback from patients, carers and staff. The team are made up of a range different health professionals including psychiatrists, mental health nurses and occupational therapists, among others.
Among their outcomes for those accessing the service are; a reduction in people detained under the Mental Health Act, a reduction in out of area placements, an increase in people in employment or full-time education, and over 60% of people supported by MHIST are living independently in the community.
Active Cheshire is the Active Partnership for Cheshire and Warrington, a physical activity charity and Sport England system partner. We play our part in a complex system to address the inequalities which drive inactivity in our communities. Our purpose is to unite inspired and empowered partners to tackle inequality in physical activity and sport across our places and our vision is to have a network of connected system partners working together to create equal access to physical activity and sport building healthier more active places. To achieve this, we work to influence and lead partnerships to reimagine physical activity and sport.
You will hear from leaders and practitioners including Dr Amrith Shetty (Deputy Medical Director for Clinical Leadership and Medical Workforce at CWP), Jordan Burrell (Clinical Practice Facilitator (OT) Mental Health Intensive Support Team (MHIST) at CWP), Roberta Pomponio (senior strategic lead for physical activity and menta health at Active Cheshire) alongside partners from Active Wirral, MhIST, and more.
The session will include:
- Insight into the background and drivers behind the implementations of Healthy Lifestyle Coach (HLC) roles in CWP’s MhIST Multi-Disciplinary Team
- Data-led reflections on outcomes and learning to date
- Real-world examples from projects including contributions from people with lived experience and frontline partners
- A panel discussion exploring what system change looks like in practice
This webinar is not just about numbers – it’s about stories, relationships, and the groundwork required for sustainable impact. It is an opportunity to explore how we can collectively embed compassionate, preventative, and person-centred approaches to health inequalities across our systems.
