MAYOR WELCOMES BOLD REPORT TO MAKE SOUTH YORKSHIRE THE HEALTHIEST REGION IN THE UK

Published 25 June 2025 at 12:00pm

South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard has welcomed a major new report that sets out a bold, ten-year vision to make our region the healthiest in the country.  

The Health is Wealth report, launched today at a meeting of the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Partnership, chaired by the Mayor, lays out a clear and practical strategy for tackling deep-rooted health inequalities in South Yorkshire – many of which go far beyond the NHS. 

Commissioned by Mayor Coppard and developed by a panel of leading health experts, the Health Equity Panel  - who’s independent chair is Emeritus Professor Alan Walker CBE, from the University of Sheffield’s Healthy Lifespan Institute. It sets out a four-part plan to improve health and wellbeing across people’s entire lives, from early childhood to old age. The goal? To close the health gap and give people in South Yorkshire longer, healthier lives. 

If delivered, the plan could mean, men in South Yorkshire living 15 more years in good health, while women could gain 11 more years. Overall life expectancy could rise by five years. 

South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard said: “For too long in this country, where we’re born has made a difference to how healthy we are, and how long we live. I refuse to allow a baby born here tomorrow to have any less chance of living their fullest life, than a baby born in the wealthiest parts of our country. That’s why I have made health central to my role as Mayor, why I’m determined to tackle the causes of that fundamental inequality, and why I’ve stated clearly my ambition for South Yorkshire to become the healthiest region in the country. 

“And now, with this Health is Wealth report, we have a plan for getting there; a pragmatic but ambitious plan for change that makes the case for health to be both a platform and a catalyst for a wealthier, better connected, more resilient and happier South Yorkshire. 

“With the right focus, investment and partnerships, with support from the NHS, the government and our local authorities, we can give everyone across our communities the chance to live the same long, healthy life as anyone, in any part of this country. 
“This is a pioneering report that gives us the opportunity to make South Yorkshire a national leader in transforming health outcomes, but most importantly to transform the lives of people across our communities.” 

The report has outlined a bold four-point strategy to achieve the Mayor’s ambition: 

• Radical Prevention – tackling the root causes of ill health, from poor housing to unhealthy food and catching issues early. 
• Health Equity in all Policies – making sure health is considered in every decision, from transport to education. 
• Proportionate Universalism – improving everyone’s health but putting the most effort where the need is greatest. 
• An Inclusive Economy – making sure everyone, especially those left behind, can share in the region’s growth 

The Health Equity Panel worked with Local Authorities and their Directors of Public Health, through their Health and Wellbeing Boards and the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Partnership to develop the report. 

The report also highlights how improving health could ease pressure on the NHS and boost the local economy. 

Emeritus Professor Alan Walker CBE said: “This is a once in a generation plan to transform health and wellbeing in South Yorkshire. Its bold aim to make South Yorkshire the country’s healthiest region reflects the Mayor’s challenge to the expert panel that produced it.  

“At its heart is the prevention of ill-health, not its treatment. And it targets those communities that bear the biggest burden of poor health and premature death. The potential prize is enormous: not just, eventually, an average additional 15 years of healthy life, but also £ millions in increased productivity across the region.  

“The plan consists of a series of sensible, achievable recommendations that, step by step over 10 years, can bring about the transformation in our region’s health. This will require the highest possible level of collaboration between the SYMCA and the four unitary authorities and political leadership that is dedicated to achieving the aim of the plan.  

“But, also, the Health Equity Panel calls for a wide movement for change, which mobilises as many groups and local communities as possible, so that the ambition of the plan is widely shared and worked for collaboratively.” 

Some of the practical steps proposed include: 

• Investing in a strong early year's workforce to give every child in South Yorkshire the best start in life. 
• Helping all children in South Yorkshire be active every day. 
• Reducing rough sleeping and hidden homelessness and ensuring that homelessness services are designed to mitigate health harms of it. 
• Create a vision for safer, healthier streets where people of all ages can play, walk, wheel and cycle. 

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and Mayor Coppard will now consider the report’s recommendations in full. 

You can read the full report, and its recommendations on the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority website here.