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Healthy Communities
SLÁINTECARE HEALTHY COMMUNITIES INITIATIVE TO ADDRESS HEALTH INEQUALITIES
ABOVE: At launch of the Sláintecare Healthy Communities at Darndale Bell Centre, were Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy Frank Feighan; Tom James, Head of Healthy Ireland; Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly; Ellen O’Dea, HSE, Head of Service for Health and Wellbeing CHO, DNCC; and Helen Deely, Interim Assistant National Director, HSE, Health & Wellbeing. The Sláintecare Healthy Communities Programme is a new cross-Government initiative to deliver increased health and wellbeing services to 19 targeted community areas across Ireland. The programme will be delivered in partnership with HSE Health and Wellbeing, local authorities, local communities, statutory, voluntary and community groups. Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy Frank Feighan launched the new €13m initiative recently. This new investment will fund posts working at community level to deliver, support and coordinate these activities.
Speaking at the launch in the Darndale Bell Centre, Minister Donnelly said, "The goal of the Healthy Communities Programme is to improve the long-term health and wellbeing of the people living in these communities. These initiatives will be delivered in partnership with a number of groups working together to provide a range of dedicated services to build lasting improvements in health and wellbeing.”
Minister Feighan said that “taking an evidence-based approach, this work will build on existing programmes in these areas and mobilise available resources to address local needs to promote health and wellbeing”.
“The 19 areas chosen to participate in this programme are diverse and have distinct needs and requirements. Each programme will be tailored to the local needs of the community to build sustainable improvements in the health and wellbeing for people of all ages,” Minister Feighan said.
Helen Deely, Interim National Director, HSE, Health & Wellbeing, said, “We are really pleased to see our partnership working and health and wellbeing programmes reach into the communities where they are most needed. "We can help build the overall wellbeing of these communities through the increased delivery of supports to quit smoking, improve healthy eating and improve mental wellbeing and reduce isolation. "For example the increased rollout of parenting programmes with Tusla under Sláintecare Healthy Communities is one of the most fundamental and positive things we can do to support parents and children’s health and wellbeing.”
Healthy Communities will support the physical and mental health of the communities as well as support improvement in the wider determinants of health in those communities, such as education, housing, social support and the built environment.
FOR MORE The Healthy Communities website is available here: www.hse.ie/eng/about/ who/healthwellbeing/slaintecarehealthy-communities/
SOCIAL PRESCRIBING: A Social Prescribing link worker will provide interventions and referrals to communitybased services in the statutory and non-statutory sector. Social prescribing offers GPs and other health professionals a means of referring people to a range of non-clinical community supports which can have significant benefits for their overall health and wellbeing and has been used to target social isolation, loneliness and mental health difficulties. STOP SMOKING ADVISOR: A Stop Smoking Advisor will provide one-to-one support to quit smoking including the provision of NRT or other Stop Smoking medication. They will also promote the extension of smoke free environments. While Ireland has made great strides in reducing tobacco consumption, we still need to make a concerted effort to support the continued development of a tobacco-free society where people can have healthier lives free from the detrimental effects of tobacco. WE CAN QUIT: We Can Quit is a friendly and supportive 12-week programme, providing group behavioural support, NRT and other stop smoking medication, to help attendees quit smoking and stay quit for good. This group programme has been proven to support people around their smoking by utilising peer and social support as well as professional input. PARENTING PROGRAMMES: Parenting Programmes will provide families with greater access to evidence-based parenting programmes which have been shown to be one of the most effective ways to improve child and parental mental health and wellbeing. HEALTHY FOOD MADE EASY: This healthy food programme will provide a user-friendly nutrition and cookery course that helps people increase their skills to implement a healthy diet, plan healthy meals on a budget and make easy to cook meals. MECC: The Making Every Contact Count programme will work with local health professionals to ensure they have the skills to deliver brief interventions and advice for all patients regarding healthy behaviours (smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, diet and nutrition). This will see an increase in service users being advised to make healthy lifestyle choices and directed to supports.
COMMUNITY FOOD & NUTRITION
WORKERS: These healthcare workers have a remit to build capacity, knowledge and skills across communities and to work with local statutory and voluntary partners to improve the food environment and address food poverty and activate agreed national campaigns. These workers will be funded by HSE Health and Wellbeing and employed by community organisations. HSE INTEGRATED ALCOHOL SERVICES: New Integrated Alcohol Services are being rolled out in community settings to provide support for people with harmful alcohol use and their families. The community-based team will consist of four counsellors, a nurse, and a project worker. In 2021, services will commence in Cork and Limerick and more services will be rolled out across the country in the future. The services will work closely with Alcohol Liaison Nurses in hospitals so that there is a joint approach to service delivery across community and hospital settings.
KEY LOCAL AUTHORITY PROGRAMME COMPONENTS
Each of the respective local authorities will coordinate and support the Sláintecare Healthy Communities Programme with the Local Community Development Committees and their existing Healthy City and Healthy County plans as well as recruiting Healthy Community Local Development Officers to coordinate activity from a local authority perspective. This increase in resource for local authorities is aimed at integrating the health and wellbeing agenda with their broader agenda and supporting a social determinants approach to health inequalities.
LOCAL PARTNER PROGRAMME COMPONENTS
Key to local operational delivery are the locally commissioned community partners such as the Local Development Companies, Family Resource Centres and others who have an existing reach and engagement into these communities.The Healthy Food Made Easy, the Community Food & Nutrition Worker as well as Social Prescribing initiatives will be delivered by local community agencies such as these to build on existing programmes and assets at community level.
Sláintecare Healthy Communities 2021
Cavan Town & County (Cavan) Gaeltacht (Donegal) Inishowen (Donegal) West Mayo (Mayo) Limerick City (Limerick) Clonmel (Tipperary) North Cork City (Cork) Enniscorthy & Wexford Town (Wexford) Waterford City (Waterford) Bray (Wicklow) Athy (Kildare) Cherry Orchard (Dublin) Clondalkin (Dublin) Tallaght (Dublin) Athlone & Mullingar (Westmeath) Longford Town (Longford) Ballymun (Dublin) Finglas & Cabra (Dublin) Kilmore & Priorswood (Dublin)
Following the official launch, HSE Health & Wellbeing hosted a launch webinar in collaboration with Healthy Ireland, Sláintecare in the Department of Health to share information and insights on the new Healthy Communities Programme. Over 800 attendees heard presentations from Tom James, Head of Healthy Ireland in the Department of Health, Dr Paul Kavanagh from the HSE Health Intelligence Unit, and Helen Deely, Interim Assistant National Director, HSE, Health & Wellbeing. The webinar also included inputs and videos from many colleagues in HSE Health and Wellbeing and their partners in local authorities, Family Resource Centres and Local Development Companies. The webinar is available to view on the HSE Health and Wellbeing YouTube channel.
