Self Care Programmes
Our two key programmes for 2008/2009 are the Working in Partnership Programme Self Care for You, and the Mike Farrar Self Care Challenge.
The Working in Partnership Programme is a 12-months funded project to extend the reach and scope of the Self Care for You course in five of the most disadvantaged areas of the North West, led by their local PCTs: Bury, Bolton, Cumbria, Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, and East Lancashire.
If you would like to know more about this course and how to join, please contact your participating PCT for details.
The Self Care Challenge was a unique initiative issued by Mike Farrar, Chief Executive of NHS North West, to the Primary Care Trusts across the region to bid for funds to develop innovative approaches to Self Care in five key areas:
- Use of technology
- Long-term conditions
- Prevention / Health promotion
- Tackling obesity / alcohol related problems
- Mental health
The winning organisations are listed below and were awarded funding to help develop and improve self care in the North West:
- Technology East Lancashire PCT with Community Health Information Project, CHIP, to improve health literacy by establishing health literacy support service.
- Long –term conditions Oldham PCT is developing a personal, interactive care record for palliative care patients with long-term conditions or cancer.
- Prevention/promotion Blackburn with Darwen PCT is running an innovative project similar to the concept of BBC2’s ‘The Dragons Den’. This project is a joint venture between health and social care working with local communities and groups to develop and increase engagement with self care initiatives to improve health and well being
- Obesity / alcohol-related problems North Lancashire Teaching PCT’s project aims to combine the benefits of tackling the problems associated with alcohol, improving health and reducing crime. The PCT developed this project in partnership with the police and other key local agencies.
- Mental Health This award was divided equally between Manchester PCT and CALM.
Manchester PCT’s ‘Beating the Blues’ project provides computer-based cognitive behavioural therapy, a self-help programme for the treatment of those suffering with mild to moderate depression. This project will work closely with both charities and the voluntary sector.
Liverpool, Sefton, Warrington and Knowsley PCTs supported a bid by Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), a campaign targeted at 15-35 year-old men at the start of depression. The project will enable the launch of CALMzones in Merseyside and East Lancs.
NHS North West Self Care Forum
The Self Care Forum is a network of PCT leads which meets bi-monthly to share learning, develop ideas and cultivate self care initiatives for wider dissemination.
For more information on this or any other SHA Self Care programmes, please e-mail Susan Summers, Assistant Director, Quality Assurance and Self Care.