Stories of Change

Fairer Health for All: Stories of Change

Sharing stories of change illustrating Fairer Health for All in action helps the Greater Manchester system to learn and grow together, promoting equity and inclusion, and helping us to make fairer health a reality for all.

Share your story of change here

What's New?

Check out our latest stories of change shared by our GM system partners:

The Real Picture of Childhood Obesity in Greater Manchester

Read the story of change about The Real Picture which was launched in response to the continuing rise in childhood obesity rates across Greater Manchester. This was a bold and wide reaching public engagement consultation with a clear goal — to build public support, explore the real drivers behind childhood obesity, and work with communities to develop actionable, people-powered solutions. Read on to find out about what they did, how they did it, the findings as well as the key challenges and lessons learned.

Breath Better Get-Togethers

Since summer 2023, Manchester Active and the NHS Community Respiratory Team have run monthly Breathe Better Get-Togethers to support people in Manchester living with COPD. These relaxed, clinician-supported sessions offer social, physical and educational activities to help attendees stay active and informed. Proactive GP invitations and community partnerships have boosted participation, with many first-time attendees going on to join pulmonary rehab. The programme shows how a friendly, community-based approach can help people breathe better, feel connected and live well with COPD.

Henshaws’ First Step Telephone Helpline

In partnership with the NHS Greater Manchester Mental Wellbeing programme, Henshaws created a new proactive referral model that ensures people newly diagnosed with a visual impairment receive timely, specialist support without needing to self-refer. By encouraging professionals to make direct referrals, the helpline reached 678 individuals in its first year, connecting a wider and more diverse community to life-changing support. The model has proven more compassionate and cost-effective, reducing inequalities in access, improving mental wellbeing, and easing pressure on NHS services. Now embedded into Henshaws’ way of working, this proactive approach demonstrates how community-led, data-informed interventions can help people regain confidence, independence, and hope at the point of diagnosis.