LLT Community Association

Laurencetown, Lenaderg & Tullylish Community Association (LLT) manage a community centre which serves the surrounding rural areas. Programmes include: parent & toddler, youth group, older peopleï¿_s group (offering 1-1 support) and supports other outlying rural groups. LLT has completed 3 Level 2 projects in the past.The first 3 projects have helped develop better understanding and promoted better access to pharmacy services etc (3 miles away), have raised the profile of LLT and put health on the agenda and has worked well with a range of specific groups including men, older people, pre schoolers etc and is currently seeking to target teenagers and parents. A good working relationship has developed between the pharmacist and LLT. They want to continue a similar approach developed through their Level 2 applications but with an increased focus on pre-school children and young people (teenagers) with their parents. Year 1 includes a health fair, 6 talks to local groups, 10 consultations for older people, 4 sessions for mothers, 4 sessions for fathers and 3 sessions with young people. Most of these, apart from the Health Fair, will be repeated in Year 2 & 3.

IPH response to DARD rural antipoverty framework

The Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) is an all-island body which aims to improve health in Ireland, by working to combat health inequalities and influence public policies in favour of health. The Institute promotes cooperation in research, training, information and policy in order to contribute to policies which tackle inequalities in health. IPH welcomes the opportunity to comment on the DARD Rural anti-poverty and social inclusion Framework.  IPH has conducted extensive work on poverty, equality and health across the island of Ireland.  We have also been specifically involved in other projects looking at the impact of rural areas and health, which may be found at www.publichealth.ie We would like to highlight the importance of considering the health needs of rural communities in policy such as the Rural Anti Poverty and Social Inclusion Framework. A wide variety of issues affect people’s health including employment, transport and access to services, for example the health and wellbeing of people in rural communities can be adversely affected by social isolation from a lack of public transport.

Food poverty in rural Northern Ireland

“Decent Food for All” (DFfA) was a three-year integrated, partnership-based programme committed to reducing food poverty and addressing inequalities in physical and financial access to safe healthy food in the Armagh and Dungannon area of Northern Ireland. DFfA is led by the Armagh and Dungannon Health Action Zone (ADHAZ) and involves the delivery of a range of programmes and workshops which provide practical community based focused help and advice on food issues and nutrition. A comprehensive research and evaluation programme entitled ‘All-island learning from the Decent Food for All programme’ runs throughout the lifetime of the programme, which ensures effective evaluation, and the sharing of best practices and experiences. The research and evaluation program is coordinated by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) with cooperation from ADHAZ. Funding for the research is provided by the Food Safety Promotion Board. To take into account background changes not directly attributable to the DFfA Programme a matched comparison area was selected in the Newry/Mourne area of Co. Down. An accurate measure of the changes that have occurred over the period of the DFfA programme is required. Valid estimates of change are based on measures before and after the programme. Pre-test and post-test community surveys provide a wide range of measures. This fact-book highlights the findings from the pre-test community survey.The aims of the pre-test survey were to:- Provide pre-test measures of the Key Performance Indicators underpinning the Key Expected Outcomes of the DFfA programme;- Identify factors influencing these pre-test measures; and- Contribute to the development of the programmes in DFfA.

The Establishment of Hospital Groups as a transition to Independent Hospital Trusts

This is the Report on the Establishment of Hospital Groups as a Transition to Independent Hospital Trusts, as approved by Government on 14 May 2013. Click here to download The Establishment of Hospital Groups as a transition to Independent Hospital Trusts PDF 5.59MB Click here to download Securing the Future of Smaller Hospitals: A Framework for Development PDF 401KB Click here to download Frequently Asked Questions PDF 1.19MB  

Rural larne health programme

This has been one of the first opportunities to get health on the agenda in the rural area of Larne. This builds on the work and experience of a previously funded BCPP project in Larne town. This project will carry out information sessions in order to; facilitate discussion, disseminate information and identify relevant health issues. The project will mainly target women in the rural areas of the Larne Borough. Other aims of the project include; supporting local women to share health message to the wider community. This project will mainly be based in the pharmacy, with the pharmacist working with the women to identify how the can develop additional rooms in the pharmacy to meet local community health needs

Rural Health Partnership

This is their 3rd BCPP project and this is a Level 3 project. Rural Health Partnership is a community based initiative which assists people to recover from a mental illness. Previous BCPP projects focussed on supporting the needs of women in relation to mental health and more specifically, those experiencing post natal depression through the 2nd BCPP project using a lay health approach. This project seeks to build on this previous work. A very good working relationship has developed between the pharmacist and RHP. A programme of activities that can enhance the skills and knowledge base of the participants will be developed and so will relationships with other services eg GPs, primary care team etc. The project aims to educate the community at large on the issues faced by vulnerable women, with particular emphasis on symptoms of postnatal depression and anxiety.

Larne Community Development Project

This partnership has been funded a couple of times to mainly looking at supporting women to look at health issues in the area. This project has, to date, worked well in making community development and health real. It has helped establish a women's group in the area and has enabled women to bring back relevant information to their families, friends, communities and other local groups they have been involved in. The pharmacy and pharmacist have been a key catalyst for this making use of skills, knowledge, contacts and premises. Some initial work was also carried out with men in the area, encouraging them to consider their health. This Level 3 project now goes a step further; skilling the women, as facilitators, to enable them to role out the information they have gained in a more formal way to the Larne area and its surrounding rural area. It also allows space and time for those women, not at this stage, to gain information, skills and confidence to take back to their families and friends. It also seeks to develop an approach targeting towards encouraging men to think about their health.

Food on a Low Income: Four households tell their story

The aim of this research was to investigate the everyday experiences of food on a low income among people in four household types on the island of Ireland (IOI). This research will inform safefood and other stakeholders targeting vulnerable groups. It should influence both policy and practical programmes such as community food initiatives and awareness campaigns. Why do low-income groups suffer more from diet-related ill health than other groups? Is it because a healthy diet is too expensive? Or what other forces are there at work? safefood commissioned this qualitative research for four different low-income household types to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics behind food poverty. The research involved a qualitative approach to enable an exploration of the ‘why’ behind the statistics of food poverty. In total, thirteen focus groups were conducted amongst four household types: two parent household with children, single males, single older people and lone parents with children, on IOI in both rural and urban settings.

Differentiated normalization and drug transitions among rural youth in Ireland.

Prevalence surveys in Ireland indicate an increased trend of youth drug use with rural areas reporting comparable drug availability and prevalence of use in urban settings (Currie, C., Nic Gabhainn, S., Godeau, E., Roberts, C., Smith, R., & Currie, D. (Eds.). (2008). Inequalities in young people's health: HBSC international report from the 2005/2006 survey. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe). Few studies have explored the contexts and meaning of drug use on rural youth transitions in terms of increased drug prevalence, recent influx of rural drug activity, normative tolerance of recreational drug consumption and fragmentation of traditional rural communities. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 220 young people (15–17 years), and 78 service providers in a rural area of Ireland, in order to yield contextualized narratives of their experiences of drug use and achieve a wider exploration of processes, drug transitions and realities of rural youth. The thematic analysis of the research described varied pathways, attitudes and typologies of rural youth drug use, ranging from abstinent, recreational and moderated to maturing out. The research suggests support for a ‘differentiated’ normalization theory (Shildrick, T. (2002). Young people, illicit drug use and the question of normalisation theory. Journal of Youth Studies, 5, 35–48) in terms of consumerist and normative rural youth drug use transitions in their negotiation of risk within integrating rural and urban dichotomies. In conclusion, it is recommended that drug education programmes need to situate localized rural drug taking behaviours within a wider understanding of rural community life.This resource was contributed by The National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

Gortin Community Seasonal Eating

Gortin Community Seasonal Eating is based within Owenkillew Development Company in the rural village of Gortin. They are establishing a community garden which will help to develop sustainable living through encouraging growing their own food, developing healthy options which are available locally and educating both providers and consumers in healthy food options. Their aims are to improve access to and availability of healthy food options through community growing and harvesting of fruit and vegetables and eating locally produced and procured ingredients. They will educate parents through targeting both the children and parents of local schools and play/toddler groups. They will use community networking of social media such as facebook, twitter and community newspaper to promote messages and events etc. They will promote awareness of healthy eating and will aim to challenge public policy on food poverty at regional and national levels. Part of theCFI Programme 2013-2015 Initiative Type Community Food Growing Projects Location Tyrone Partner Agencies safefood

Cairde le Cheile CFI

Potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, turnips and a range of herbs are grown for use in the Cairde le Cheile Meals on Wheels service. The core workers in the garden are Rural Social Scheme participants. The gardens are open weekly on Monday and Tuesday and many people visit. Local Agenda 21 Initiative Type Meals on Wheels Location Mayo Target Groups Older people Funding Local Agenda 21 Partner Agencies HSE Mayo County Council The Community Foundation for Ireland

Appendix 4. Initiatives in the East Midlands to Address Health Inequalities Between Ethnic Groups: Results of a survey undertaken by Champa Patel in May-July 2004 on behalf of EMPHO and Voice-East Midlands

Initiatives in the East Midlands to Address Health Inequalities Between Ethnic Groups: Results of a survey undertaken by Champa Patel in May-July 2004 on behalf of EMPHO and Voice-East Midlands.

A Rapid Mapping Study of Smoking Projects and Services Targeted at People Living on Low Income and/or Minority Ethnic Groups

This is a study concerned with community based services aimed at smokers living on a low income and/or black and minority ethnic groups.