CWP Living Well Service short listed for national award

A mobile health and wellbeing service aimed at improving health outcomes for seldom heard communities has been short listed for a national partnership award. Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust's (CWP) Living Well Service, which provides targeted health and wellbeing clinics across Cheshire and Merseyside, has been nominated in the Estates Optimisation Project of the Year at the HSJ Partnership Awards 2023 in recognition of its achievements to date addressing key health inequalities. The service, which identifies areas where health outcomes are poorer or engagement with other support is lower, works alongside communities to provide vital health and wellbeing support that best meets their needs.

Operating as a drop in service on specially designed clinic buses, Living Well provides a broad range of physical health checks, mental wellbeing support and Covid19 vaccinations. The service also acts as a conduit to connect people with other local services such as help with finances, social care, diet and lifestyle.

David Pearson, CWP's Senior Responsible Officer for the Living Well Service, said:- "The Living Well Service is built on the principles of listening to under-served communities and meeting their needs by bringing the right services to them. The way this service has been embraced by the populations we serve as well as partners across the health and care system has been fantastic and I'm delighted that this innovative and person centred way of working is being recognised."

The service, commissioned by Cheshire and Merseyside's Integrated Care System across all 9 local Council areas, recognises and engages with communities most in need of targeted in-reach. Since mobilising across Cheshire and Merseyside in June 2022 (following a successful pilot in Cheshire) the service has run 295 focused clinics in areas of high deprivation, ethnic or social diversity, faith settings, supported living settings for homeless, refugees or asylum seekers, mental health support groups and services for people with a learning disability, sensory disability, or autism.

Jayne Wood, Director of Vaccine and Testing Operations, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, said:- "This service has demonstrated superb partnership working and is an excellent example of system wide working. Ensuring services are shaped by the needs of our population is so important and this is at the heart of Living Well Service's vision."

CWP Director of Operations, Suzanne Edwards said:- "On behalf of CWP, and in conjunction with our partners, I would like to congratulate the Living Well Service for being shortlisted for such a prestigious national award. The service would not be possible without the excellent links we have with our partners from across the Region and we are proud of our integrated approach to improve outcomes for local communities."

Find out more about the Living Well Service and the service timetable at:- CWP.NHS.UK/LivingWellService 
 

Finalists revealed in the 2023 Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Awards!

THE 39 finalists for the 2023 Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Awards are today unveiled with the announcement that the glittering ceremony will take place at the iconic Shakespeare North Playhouse. Hundreds of artists, creatives, volunteer and community groups entered the 13 categories which include:- Inspirational Young Person and awards for Environmental work and Community Cohesion. A final category, the People's Choice Award; Outstanding Contribution to Culture, will be voted for by the public, before the winners are declared at the event in March. The awards will come live from the magnificent new venue in Prescot, which is located in in this year's Borough of Culture; Knowsley.

Nominations were whittled down to the 39 shortlisted entries by an expert panel of judges including:- Cultural Partnership Chair Sir Phil Redmond, Kate Royse the Director of the Hartree Centre, Colin Sinclair, Chief Executive Sciontec Developments and the Knowledge Quarter Liverpool, and Michelle Charters CEO of the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:- "I launched these awards four years ago because I wanted to shine a spotlight on the incredible individuals and businesses who go above and beyond every year to help make our area the UK's cultural capital. We'll be celebrating the exceptional talents of all those who help to enrich all our lives and make our Region one of the most vibrant and exciting places to live, work, visit, or do business in. All the finalists deserve every bit of praise for their accomplishments and I'm really looking forward to celebrating their achievements in a night filled with celebration next year."

Online voting for the People's Choice Award; Outstanding Contribution to Culture will open in the New Year. The finalists are:-

►  Africa Oyé.

►  Creative Balance.

►  Homotopia.

►  Culture Knowsley - Borough of Culture 2022.

►  Shakespeare North Playhouse.

►  The World in One City.

Chair of the Cultural Partnership Sir Phil Redmond said:- "The Liverpool City Region has been working hard to cultivate technology, innovation, and science across the area and that has definitely been reflected in this year's nominations to the awards. I was delighted to have these sectors included within our judging panel and it was fascinating to see how the different categories spoke to everyone to develop and introduce new ideas and creative approaches."

Now in their 4th year, the Culture and Creativity Awards celebrate the huge contribution that the cultural and creative sector bring to the Liverpool City Region and the difference it makes to people's lives.

Portfolio Holder for Culture for the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Councillor Mike Wharton said:- "Well done to all of the finalists. What an amazing showcase of culture and creativity the 2023 event will be. We have such a breadth of talent across our Region. The Liverpool City Region was the 1st Combined Authority to have culture included in its devolution agreement and I think that we are now seeing that involvement go from strength to strength."

New judge Kate Royse, Director of the Hartree Centre, said:- "It's been a great experience and being a newcomer to the City Region I've very much enjoyed understanding the blend between the creativity involved in innovation and technology and that which makes up the more traditional cultural projects. I was incredibly impressed with all the nominees and it was very difficult to choose the finalists!"

Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre CEO Michelle Charters has been involved in the awards since their inception. She said:- "I'm looking forward to what this year's winners will go on to achieve as we've seen great things from our previous winners and the opportunities they've been able to benefit from. The quality of the nominees is always very high, but particularly this year where we saw such a diverse and talented amount of nominees and lots of new projects; so many of them are worthy of being commended."

The Culture and Creativity Awards were established as part of the Mayor's commitment to culture through his 1% for Culture initiative. Previous award winners include:- Author and Performer Ashleigh Nugent, Liverpool Theatre Festival founder Bill Elms, Muralist Paul Curtis, Choir Leader Jennifer John, The Atkinson, Heart of Glass and Spider Project.