A special summit exploring the region’s ambition to transform the health and wellbeing of the Liverpool City Region has taken place.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson and Cllr Andy Moorhead, portfolio lead for Health, Wellbeing and Social Care for the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority were joined by more than 200 local authority, health and community leaders at The Venue, Huyton.

The Liverpool City Region Health Summit aimed to kick start conversations about health in the region and the need to change.

Cllr Andy Moorhead opened the Health Summit. He said: "Everyone in our many diverse communities should have the equal opportunity to live long, healthy and happy lives.

"The Health Summit is just the start of a conversation to explore how local leaders and the community can work together to improve these opportunities.

"It provided the opportunity to discuss and explore how we can improve the overall health and wellbeing in the Liverpool City Region, with our residents being integral to everything that we do.

"There is a huge potential that working in collaboration with our community and our partners this can happen."

Matthew Ashton, Director of Public Health at Sefton and Knowsley, addressed the Summit on how to improve the health and wellbeing of the City Region. He added: "In simple terms healthy people are happier people and happier people are healthier.

"Healthy populations are more economically prosperous populations, and vice versa but the average life expectancy in Merseyside is 2 to 3 years lower than national levels.

"This varies substantially across the Liverpool City Region depending on where you live and is something we all need to look at together and address. Through the Health Summit we can bring together all our professional knowledge to look at the challenges and opportunities surrounding health for everyone in the Liverpool City Region."

The summit also highlighted the challenges facing health services in the region, including financial challenges and pressures on accident and emergency services.

Clare Duggan, Director for Commissioning Operations, NHS England, added: "The Liverpool City Region has a population of more than 1.5 million people and collectively we all have a duty to ensure the best quality of care for every single one of them.

"There is a real opportunity to work with local communities and partners to meet this collective challenge, to improve and transform our health and care system over the next five years."

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