The service, delivered by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, operates on a fully drop in basis and provides routine UK immunisations, health checks, and mental wellbeing support.
Making use of a fleet of three busses, the service reaches in to heard-to-reach communities who may experience barriers to accessing health services. A core value of the service is the healthcare should be accessible to all people.
On Friday 28 February, the service was hosting a clinic outside the Chung Wah Supermarket in Liverpool’s Chinatown. NHS staff were on hand to deliver the service to local people and were assisted by volunteers from Chinese Wellbeing, a local charity who support elderly members of the Chinese community to live independently. They were also able to help with translation and interpretation for some visitors from Cantonese to English.
Diane, a volunteer for Chinese Wellbeing, was unequivocal in her belief in the value of the service to the local community. She said: “There is a huge demand here for the health checks as people with language barriers do find it difficult to reach out to their GPs. The older they are, the less likely they are to want to bother family members who may help with translations. So just be able to come independently to an NHS bus to have a health check and a vaccination is a huge, huge benefit.”
During his visit, Richard was able to speak to service leads, staff members and also volunteers from Chinese Wellbeing.
Tim Welch, CWP chief executive, was also on hand to assist Richard on his visit. He said: “We were delighted to welcome the NHS England Chair to one of our Living Well Service clinics in Chinatown in Liverpool. It was especially wonderful to see the phenomenal connection the service has with the local community – both residents and local charities – with a great turnout to the clinic. Since launching in 2022, the Living Well Service has continued to grow, engaging with to hard-to-reach communities, ensuring that healthcare is available to all people across our region.”
The Living Well Service continues to make stops all across Cheshire and Merseyside. To see the latest bus timetable and to find out more about the service, visit their dedicated service page on our website here.
