Cheshire and Wirral Partnership: Mobile self-drive unit helps Trust to address health inequalities across the region

A new project, launching this month led by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, will help to address health inequalities across the region and deliver decentralised healthcare to hard-to-reach communities. 

As a first of its kind nationally, EMS Healthcare are proud to be playing an important part in supporting this project by providing the three self-drive units, which are helping to bring healthcare into everyone's each. By using an Outreach, a multi-functional self-drive unit, the project will deliver:

• On-the-spot vaccinations
• Physical health checks
• Mental and wellbeing support

Louis McDermott, Operational Lead for Vaccination and Living Well Service, said: "Ultimately it's a mobile clinic space that provides all the benefits you would get if you went to your local GP, and people can have a safe and effective clinical experience.

"EMS have been brilliant, they get the project, they get the purpose. They've developed a mechanism that enables us to get right to those communities, not being reliant on any fixed estate and something that provides a very flexible and versatile opportunity." 

Barney Payne, Clinical Lead for Cheshire and Wirral Partnership, added: "People have got out of the habit of visiting a GP. If you ask, for instance, 'when did you last get your blood pressure done', they said, 'Oh pre-COVID.' So they're finding it really handy and they can get all these basic health checks done because we're here in the car park, they think it's a brilliant idea."