First health and housing partnership launches in Cheshire and Merseyside
Health and housing leaders across Cheshire and Merseyside are working together to improve health and wellbeing through better housing.
The Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Housing Partnership (CMHHP) is a collaboration between the Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership (HCP) and local housing organisations, supported by the Housing Association Charitable Trust (HACT).
Improved joint working can help reduce hospital admissions, prevent readmissions, and enable care and support to be provided at home and within communities.
The importance of housing in promoting health and wellbeing was a key recommendation in Sir Michael Marmot’s All Together Fairer report.
The partnership will focus on:
- Healthy Homes: Ensuring that housing supports residents' health rather than exacerbating existing health conditions. This includes targeted interventions for respiratory illnesses, improved access to support services, and the development of integrated pathways.
- Mental Health and Housing: Providing specialised housing solutions to improve recovery outcomes for individuals with severe mental illness, including those awaiting hospital discharge. The initiative also aims to embed housing expertise in mental health services and promote early intervention strategies.
- Public Health Promotion and Engagement: Utilising housing association community programmes to tackle health inequalities, food insecurity, and poverty, while strengthening local health infrastructure and community engagement.
- Workforce Opportunities for Tenants: Opening pathways for social housing tenants to enter health and social care jobs by simplifying processes, building partnerships between housing associations and recruiters, and demystifying careers in the NHS.
The partnership represents a significant step forward in integrating housing, health, and care to create lasting change. With a focus on prevention, targeted support, and community empowerment, the partnership aims to set a new standard for health and housing collaboration.
Professor Ian Ashworth, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s Director of Population Health, said:
“We know that housing is a vital determinant of health and that substandard housing is a cause of health inequalities. This partnership is about recognising the power of housing as a foundation for better health and well-being.
“Together with our housing partners across Cheshire and Merseyside, we will continue work to address inequalities, enabling healthier, more sustainable communities.”
Andrew van Doorn OBE, Chief Executive, Housing Association Charitable Trust (HACT) said:
“Greater collaboration with housing can unlock the passion, resources and capacity that exists across Cheshire and Merseyside to drive the best health outcomes for local people.
“Too often organisations and sectors work in silos. This new partnership will transform the ways we work together and demonstrate why housing is a key partner to achieving our shared ambition.”
The partnership invites stakeholders from housing, local government, and health sectors to join forces and help create healthier futures for all residents of Cheshire and Merseyside.
For anyone wanting to get involved in the work or anyone who has examples of great local practice to share, they are asked to get in touch via becci.james@hact.org.uk.
Content provided by NHS Cheshire and Merseyside.
Published on Thu, 23 Jan 2025 09:00:00 GMT
Modified on Fri, 24 Jan 2025 09:42:34 GMT