Case study: The Life Rooms from Mersey Care (2022)
Learn about the support being offered by Mersey Care’s Life Rooms.
On Tuesday 2nd August 2025 the Collaborative welcomed the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education (KICCE) to Cheshire and Merseyside. The visit provided a fantastic learning opportunity to gain fresh perspectives on child and family poverty, as well as providing an opportunity to showcase the positive work that is happening across our communities and share recommendations.
The visit, which was kindly hosted by Cheshire West and Chester Council, ran all afternoon from 12pm – 4pm. This provided valuable time for presentations and discussions as well as an opportunity to connect with local experts across the subregion.
During the visit an overview of the All Together Fairer programme and the recent publications; A rapid situational analysis on Child and Family Poverty Cheshire and Merseyside and Institute of Health Equity Report – All Together Fairer, Health Equity and the Social Determinants of Health in Cheshire and Merseyside was given by Professor Ian Ashworth, Director of Population Health, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside.
As well as an overview of the programme, Ian included a detailed look into the importance of data monitoring, and how the All Together Fairer Programme uses beacon indicators to influence priorities and analyse what strategies are working well.
An engaging presentation by Cath Fletcher, Strategy and Innovation Manager for Cheshire West’s Poverty Truth Programme was also given. The presentation showcased the Cheshire West and Chester Fairer Future strategy, which focuses on hearing the voices of people experiencing poverty and acting to address the issues they raise, delivering urgent action to tackle the immediate consequences of poverty and transforming society and the economy to tackle the underlying causes of poverty.
Anna Nygard, Head of Inequalities and Strategic Partnerships from Sefton council, also gave an insightful presentation which focused on Sefton’s Child Poverty Strategy. Anna discussed the importance of data as well as how local insight, storytelling and connected narratives are essential in creating positive change
Following the presentations recommendations were given to KICCE to take a public health approach to the social determinants of health, and invest in local datasets and policies which KICCE were extremely interested in exploring.
Professor Ian Ashworth, Director of Population Health, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said ’ We were delighted to welcome the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education (KICCE) on their visit to Cheshire and Merseyside, where we showcased some of the great work happening across our communities, shared insights, and discussed different approaches to tackling child poverty. International learning opportunities like this are extremely important to make positive change, and we welcome the opportunity to work with KICCE in the future’
