Cheshire West Place Director, Laura Marsh, shares her thoughts on how devolution could benefit Cheshire and Warrington.

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What could devolution mean for Cheshire and Warrington’s future?

“From my perspective working in health and looking ahead, devolution provides us with the opportunity to work collaboratively across the Cheshire and Warrington footprint to reduce health inequalities. Partnering with employers, education settings, housing providers and businesses will provide new opportunities to focus on and tackle the causes of poorer health, including improving skills and employment, better housing, access to green spaces etc."

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How can devolution support Cheshire and Warrington’s health sector?

“For me, it is the opportunity to bring partners closer together to work on shared agendas but also to work at scale across our footprint. Hopefully at that scale we can have a louder voice to bring additional resources into our area, for the benefit of our whole population and to continue to make it a place that people want to come to visit, live and work in."

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What do you think the benefits are of having an elected Mayor for the area?

“An elected Mayor provides a single figurehead to increase the visibility of our area. Increasingly national decision-makers are looking to work with Mayors on reconfiguration of services, such as skills development and transport. We want to be around the table for these discussions and to have a voice."

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Find out more about NHS Cheshire and Merseyside.