14.07.15
Liverpool tackles health in response to NHS deficit
Liverpool City Council and CCG are kick-starting a local programme to tackle the city’s pressing health problems.
The Healthy Liverpool programme will target a series of priority areas such as mental health, healthy ageing, cancer, children, long-term conditions and learning disabilities, with goals outlined for each category.
The programme is a direct response to the annual deficit of the NHS soon reaching £30bn. It aims to reduce the number of people who need hospitals by encouraging healthier lifestyles.
The city was featured last night in BBC Panorama’s latest episode ‘NHS: The Perfect Storm’, filmed over six months in Liverpool to portray the reality of one of the unhealthiest areas in Britain.
Rachael Gosling, consultant at Liverpool Community Health Trust, told NHE: “Last night’s programme set out the scale of the challenges facing the NHS. The emphasis on prevention and the need for more out-of-hospital care for the population of Liverpool has to be at the heart of the solution for the future, and the Healthy Liverpool Programme’s ambitions in this area are absolutely right.
“Tackling the root causes of the health inequalities which the programme highlighted have to be front and centre if the city’s health is to improve and the reliance on the traditional hospital services is to be reduced.”
NHE has previously interviewed Gosling about the strategic prevention agenda.