Stronger Partnerships, Healthier Futures: Cheshire and Merseyside’s Director of Population Health annual report
Monday, 2 June 2025

The 2024/25 annual report for Cheshire and Merseyside’s Population Health Programme - Stronger Partnerships, Healthier Futures - has been published.
This report focuses on the Four Pillars of Population Health (Social Determinants Programme, Supporting Healthy Behaviours Programme, Healthcare inequalities Programme, Screening, immunisation and health protection) and highlights a variety of successes each of these programmes have celebrated during 2024/25.
The report is also accompanied by a 10-minute film, which showcases a range of examples across the Pillars. The video has been shot in a variety of locations across the subregion, highlighting the diversity and breadth of Cheshire and Merseyside. The video also features some of the fantastic people who are working directly with the local community to improve the health and wellbeing of the population.
Within the report are a range of positive statistics, demonstrating the impact of the Programme, including a 1.3% decrease in pregnant women smoking, and an extra 533 lung cancer cases having been caught early due to the 40,000 scans that have been carried out. It also highlights that the Programme has had six mentions by national organisations as examples of best practice.
Professor Ian Ashworth, Director of Population Health for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said:
“The past 12 months have been an exciting time for Population Health in Cheshire and Merseyside. Across our Four Pillars of Population Health we have seen excellent examples of strong system leadership, effective local partnerships, and the embedding of prevention and reducing health inequalities as a system priority.
“As demonstrated within this report building on our collaborative efforts as an effective Integrated Care System will only help further embed prevention and reduce health inequalities to improve the health and the wellbeing of the people of Cheshire and Merseyside.
“As well as looking back on our past successes the report also highlights what we should be looking forward to in 2025/26, how we can continue to build on the strong foundations already built, and how we can continue to drive positive change through the Population Health programme. I hope you take the time to read this report, watch our film and see the value that population health brings to our system.”
To read the full report and find out more about Cheshire and Merseyside’s Population Health Programme, please click here.