All Together Active: a physical activity strategy for health and social care across Cheshire and Merseyside

Working as part of a whole-system to tackle health inequalities

MSP and counterparts Active Cheshire have been commissioned by the ICS (Integrated Care System) Cheshire & Merseyside Health & Care Partnership to lead the development of a Physical Activity Strategy for the subregion, All Together Active, which will support our local Places to implement prevention at scale.

Our collective ambition is to support 150,000 inactive people across Cheshire and Merseyside to be more active by 2026, and to create and embed a whole-system approach to physical activity across the subregion in order to achieve this prevention at scale.

All Together Active is supported by a Physical Activity Board of strategic stakeholders from across the region, including representatives from public health, the care sector, sport and leisure services, academia and the VCFSE sector. It also has the backing of key organisations including Sport England and Champs.

All Together Active strategy

Why is a strategy needed?

In the Cheshire and Merseyside region there are growing disparities in life expectancy between the richest and poorest areas, and over half a million adults in the region are classed as inactive (undertaking less than 30 minutes of moderate physical activity per week).

Physical inactivity costs the NHS in the UK around £1bn per year, however there is a clear cost-benefit in aligning physical activity to the health system. Research shows that there is a £3.91 return for every £1 invested in physical activity, including a major role for physical activity in the prevention of a number of serious physical and mental health conditions (Sheffield Hallam University, 2020).

All Together Active has been recognised as a key pillar of the ICS prevention agenda, further cemented by the development of the Marmot Region principles and physical activity’s importance in tackling health inequalities. The strategy takes a whole-system approach towards physical activity, aligning with the Sport England ‘Uniting the Movement’ strategy and other health workstreams linked to the ICS.

Read the All Together Active strategy

Published in October 2022, you can read the All Together Active strategy via the Champs website.

You can also rewatch the strategy launch event (12th October 2022) by clicking here.

Get involved

If your organisation would like to be involved in progressing this work within Merseyside then please contact us by completing this form.

About the Board

The Physical Activity Board consists of a range of strategic stakeholders from across the region, including representatives from public health, the care sector, sport and leisure services, academia and the VCFSE sector.

Over the last couple of years the Board have been on a journey with our stakeholders following a roadmap of key milestones towards the Strategy development, which has included:

Undertaking initial research to ascertain needs and opportunities across the region
Proposing strategic themes and a draft framework
Presentation of findings to key stakeholders
Producing a System Map, which has informed the development of a Stakeholder Map
Working with system partners to pilot and develop physical activity initiatives – for example supporting Health Equalities Group with building physical activity in to the NHS Prevention Pledge, and working with Champs to pilot integrating physical activity in to NHS clinical pathways

All Together Active Governance Structure

As part of the All Together Active strategy, there are five thematic groups that feed into the Physical Activity Board:

Start Well – supporting maternity, children and young people 0-18
Live Well and Workplaces – focusing on working age adults, both in and out of employment
Age Well – supporting older adults aged 55+
Active Travel – supporting more people to walk, wheel and cycle
Workforce – developing programmes to support health and social care colleagues to have more and better conversations about physical activity

Meeting quarterly, these groups look at opportunities and implementation at scale across Cheshire and Merseyside. If you have expertise in any of these areas and would be interested in getting involved in any one of the groups then please contact Danny Woodworth (Partnership Manager for Health) via d.woodworth@merseysidesport.com