PHA and councils join forces to improve health and wellbeing

Elected representatives from Cookstown, Magherafelt and Dungannon and South Tyrone councils have joined with the Public Health Agency (PHA) and both the Northern and Southern Health and Social Care Trusts to launch the Mid-Ulster Cluster plan. This plan, and the actions that follow from it, will improve the health and wellbeing of the people in the mid-Ulster area.

The plan was launched at a learning day to explore, test and implement a new joint approach to health improvement and examine ways to tackle health inequalities in the area. The learning day, held at the Marina Centre, Ballyronan, was also used to promote the most effective and efficient use of health improvement resources across the participating organisations.

Speaking about the plan, the learning day and the future, Madeline Heaney, PHA Head of Health and Social Wellbeing Improvement (North), said: “The Public Health Agency was set up, in part, to tackle health inequalities and to promote positive health and wellbeing. We do this by working in partnership with local councils, statutory colleagues and the community and voluntary sector.

“We have developed a series of actions to deliver the cluster plan, which will initially focus on local people who are unemployed, particularly on their physical activity, nutrition and mental health and wellbeing. We will also concentrate on new ways to engage with those are difficult to reach as they do not traditionally access services and support. In this, and all our work, we are keen to involve others with an interest in health improvement, to lay the foundations of new and meaningful joint work.”

Councillor Sean Clarke, Chairman, Cookstown District Council, added: “In recent years we have all been working to deliver services and programmes of work with limited resources and funding. This  provides us with a unique opportunity to deliver a truly joined-up way of working which makes best use of our collective knowledge and resources.”