Manchester

Manchester City Council's chief executive, Tom Stannard, has stepped forward as the city's 'place-based lead', a new post that puts him in charge of knitting together council, NHS and voluntary services so every one of the 580,000 residents can reach the same standard of care.

The move comes as the city's health partnership admits that, despite 25 Nobel laureates, two global football clubs and a roll-call of world-changing scientists and activists, ordinary Mancunians still die earlier than they should. Officials will not say how wide the gap is, only that it exists between rich and poor wards alike.

Stannard's brief is to flatten that gradient. The Integrated Care Partnership, already running neighbourhood teams out of local clinics, will now share budgets and staff with the council's housing, leisure and social-work departments. The aim is to stop people falling through the cracks created when separate bodies each thought someone else was responsible.

Council papers give no date for when the new system will be judged a success, and no extra cash has been announced. What is clear is that the reorganisation leaves Oldham, Rochdale and the other boroughs in the wider health footprint watching Manchester closely; if the city can make joint working save lives, the model will be copied across Greater Manchester.

For now, residents will notice little outward change. Appointments will still be booked through the same phone lines and GP websites. The difference, Stannard says, is that behind the scenes 'no one will need to tell their story twice' because health, care and council teams will read the same file.