Champs Public Health Collaborative System Leadership Meeting | Key messages | Mid-year

The Champs Directors met for their mid-year Executive Board meeting, chaired by Dave Bradburn, Director of Public Health for Wirral and Champs Lead on Child Poverty. The key messages from this meeting are below.

Collaborative mid-year report – The Directors reviewed the Collaborative’s performance dashboard, risk register, finance report and mid-year report for 25-26. Key highlights are listed below.

All Together Fairer –

1. An update was given on the Health Equity Network’s conference in Liverpool on 9^th October and the breakfast meeting between Sir Michael Marmot, Mayor Steve Rotheram and Councillor Louise Gittins. The meeting was a great success and Mayor Rotheram and Cllr Gittins have agreed to work together as a system to reduce health inequalities and embed All Together Fairer into Combined Authority policy.  A working group is to be convened to look at a more holistic “All Together Fairer” Neighbourhoods model.
2. Publication of key reports such as the All Together Fairer for Health Equity: Champs Public Health Collaborative and the IHE report, exploring how IHE and the Collaborative have worked together to form a powerful system for tackling health inequalities in Cheshire and Merseyside and the Heseltine Institute Policy Briefing Tackling child and family poverty through a place-based lens: insights from Cheshire and Merseyside, which exemplifies the systems approach Cheshire and Merseyside is taking to tackle child and family poverty.
3. Cheshire and Merseyside, in collaboration with Sefton Council, hosted a visit from the National Child Poverty Unit, who met with local families struggling with poverty.
4. Work is progressing on auto enrolment for free school meals, with three out of nine Cheshire and Merseyside local authorities having a process in place with the other areas working towards this.

All Together Smoke Free

1. Co-ordinated leadership from the Champs Directors and youth advocacy have helped shape national debate and progress the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, positioning Cheshire & Merseyside as a leading regional voice in smokefree policy and practice.
2. The Smoking Ends Here website and initial campaign has achieved major digital reach (16 million+ digital impressions and 10,000+ unique website visitors) and community engagement.
3. A joint quality-improvement programme with regional partners and the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training is now in development to address variation, improve continuity, and embed tobacco treatment within wider prevention pathways.

Communications and Behaviour Change

1. The Directors have been supported on several joint statements including the North West Directors of Public Health statement on alcohol harm, which was published on the Collaborative’s website and covered on social media.
2. Directors have been supported with presentations at conferences including the HSJ Reducing Inequalities conference in Birmingham, the LGA Conference in Liverpool and North West Collaborative Masterclass Session on Prevention. A case study on our unique model for reducing inequalities was also featured by the LGA.
3. Generated media coverage for Cheshire and Merseyside’s child poverty work in The MJ and supported the communications for the National Child Poverty Unit visit.

Health protection

1. Provided a range of engagement opportunities for the health protection community, with a number of workshops being planned throughout the year
2. Continued work with ICB colleagues to ensure the ICB review of commissioning arrangements for outbreaks has input from local authority health protection leads
3. Planning is underway for this year’s health protection learning event which will take place as a webinar focused on Antimicrobial Resistance on 28^th November, with UKHSA.

Workforce Development and Wellbeing

1. Good progress made on the development of the new workforce model “Connect, Learn, Thrive” to include developing a public health career pathway with new branding.
2. Development and ongoing delivery of UKPHR specialist portfolio pilot to support growing Cheshire and Merseyside’s future consultants.
3. The Champs Collaborative CPD programme continues to deliver, with four events so far held and being accessed by over 300 colleagues.

Mental Health & Wellbeing and Suicide Prevention

1. The LGA’s situational analysis report on the suicide prevention programme across the sub-region completed, presented to Champs Directors in May and circulated to key partners within the wider network.
2. Development of a NIHR proposal (led by LJMU) for phase three of a MAPSS (Multi modal approach to preventing suicides in schools) feasibility study (30 schools across England)
3. Development of easy-read versions of the self-harm support booklets and guides for children and young people and parents/carers and dissemination through the wider network.

Reducing alcohol harm

1. Delivery of updated Band 6/7 competency frameworks, monthly education programme, standardised approach to alcohol screening in pregnancy and nominated as a finalist for the 2025 North-West Coast Research and Innovation Award.
2. Transition to ‘NHS Drink Free Days’ app, with interim assets produced and communications to system partners.
3. 5,000 community liver health checks, in partnership with the Hepatitis ODN and almost 500 (10%) were identified with likely Chronic Liver Disease, Advanced or Moderate Fibrosis, and appropriate investigations and intervention provided.

Good news and gratitude – The Directors shared items of good news and gratitude.

• Sefton have achieved Hepatitis C micro-elimination
• Matt Ashton recently presented at the Healthy City Design Congress in Salford, alongside colleagues from Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester.
• Thanks were expressed to the Champs Support Team for their work on the recent successful Marmot breakfast meeting and the All Together Inspired session held at the Health Equity Network conference. Thanks also to Liverpool team for their support with the conference organisation.
• Thanks were expressed to Helen Bromley for the Champs Director’s update presentation recently delivered to the Cheshire and Merseyside CEOs, which was very well received.