Interactive workbooks, designed to help young people across Cheshire and Merseyside schools learn new ways to improve their mental health, the Smokefree Pregnancy programme in Greater Manchester ensuring the very best start in life for babies, and a trial offering blood pressure checks in barber shops in Lancashire are just some of the ways NHS teams are already delivering the shift to prevention, set out as one of the key ambitions in the NHS 10 Year Plan.

Across the North West, the NHS is taking action to encourage our communities to maintain their health and prevent sickness before it starts or progresses, including supporting people to make healthy choices which can prevent ill health further down to the line and extending screening programmes which can lead to early detection and intervention.

Communities in the North West of England often experience some of the widest health inequalities, and there are pockets of deprivation across our region which can often shape health outcomes. The NHS 10 Year Plan aims to restore the means to lead a healthy life, in places where it has become most difficult.

Professor Andrew Furber, Regional Director of Public Health for NHS England in the North West said: “Every day I see how ambitious and talented NHS teams across the North West are finding new and innovative ways to improve care.

“The 10 Year Plan reinforces the work staff in the region are already doing to keep patients healthy, for longer and ultimately transform our NHS into a prevention-focused service.”

In Cheshire and Merseyside, Mersey Care’s Mental Health Support Teams in schools have developed interactive workbooks, which are designed to help young people, parents, and education staff learn new ways to improve their mental health and wellbeing, acknowledging that lifelong issues with poor mental health often start in childhood.

The workbooks provide comprehensive guidance on taking proactive steps to maintaining good health, building positive self-esteem and understanding anxiety and low mood. They explain how these issues can impact young people and highlight common symptoms to watch for that may signal they are struggling.

In Greater Manchester the prevention work is starting even earlier. NHS Greater Manchester’s Smokefree Pregnancy Programme has successfully reduced smoking rates at the time of delivery by more than 40%, resulting in thousands more babies being born smoke free.

The programme provides personalised support, and one-to-one advice and guidance, free nicotine replacement therapy, regular carbon monoxide screening, and an incentive scheme to stay smokefree. It has had a transformative impact on maternal and infant health, and is helping to prevent stillbirth and miscarriage, women going into early labour, as well as breathing problems in infants.

In Lancashire and South Cumbria, it’s easier than ever to prevent becoming unwell with conditions due to high blood pressure. At the Lucky 13 Barbershop in Lytham, Lancashire, you can get a haircut and a blood pressure check at the same appointment.

Across the Fylde Coast, the level of undiagnosed and untreated hypertension (high blood pressure) is particularly high, and the pilot – which saw barbers trained in blood pressure testing – targeted men, who are often more reluctant to go and see a doctor. The project, a joint scheme from the Trust and the NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) with funding from the Blue Skies charity has seen barbers at Lucy 13 deliver more than 200 blood pressure checks.

Prof. Furber continued: “The local NHS is at the heart of many communities, and we are in a unique position to take the health care direct to them, support people to support their own health and wellbeing, and lead heathier lives.”

The Living Well Bus is doing just that – bringing health services, including immunisations, screening, health checks and mental wellbeing support, into communities across Cheshire and Merseyside.

The Living Well Service is delivered by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS FT, and since its formation in 2022 has delivered more than 28,000 seasonal vaccines, 1300 routine immunisations and over 8500 health checks. It seeks to identify those who require help to improve their health, ranging from support for dependency on alcohol or tobacco, offering referrals into weight management services or through hypertension case finding along with high cholesterol test results.  The service also focuses on how screening can be crucial for early detection of disease and is currently offering a drop in cervical screening service which to date has seen over 1000 people attend.

Identifying early those who need health care is such an important factor in moving from sickness to prevention.

In March 2025, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust launched an opt-out testing programme in the emergency department, which routinely tests people over the age of 16 for blood borne viruses, and has already helped to diagnose dozens of people living with HIV and Hepatitis.

The approach is aiming to normalise testing, reduce stigma and ensure those who are unaware of their status are able to receive timely care. When someone knows they have a blood borne virus, they can make informed decisions on their own care, and take measures to prevent becoming unwell.

Social conditions are intrinsically linked to health. Those who live in areas of high deprivation are more likely to become unwell, or not have the support to look after their health. The Lancaster Primary Care Network understood the need to improve population health and health equity in areas of deprivation and so developed an outreach service to engage people from the Rylands estate who were not accessing healthcare. They took health checks into the community, delivering around 150 checks to the people living on the estate. This meant that the team were able to identify new health conditions and provide support to improve health and well-being.

Find out more about how the NHS is moving from sickness to prevention in the 10 Year Health Plan: 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future – GOV.UK