Health Promotion

Description:

Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over the determinants of health and thereby improve their health and wellbeing. Health promotion improves the health and wellbeing of the general population and those populations at greatest risk of developing chronic disease. Health promotion is defined and articulated through a range of government policy documents that have been translated into HSE Implementation plans for delivery. Healthy Ireland (HI) Framework (2013) is the overarching policy document. Several policies and strategies have been published to progress specific priority areas including National Sexual Health Strategy, National Physical Activity Plan, A Healthy Weight for Ireland - Obesity Policy and Action Plan, Tobacco Free Ireland, the National Substance Misuse Strategy, Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice.

Senior Health Promotion and Improvement Officers will act as enablers, negotiators, and advocates to build and leverage capacity within the HSE and with external stakeholders to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources to improve the health and wellbeing of the population.

The work of Health Promotion and Improvement is focused on:

• Building capacity of health services to support people to stay healthy and well through delivery of health and wellbeing training programmes.
• Providing knowledge, expertise, and support to ensure our health service and models of care deliver health and wellbeing gains for the population and particularly for those most at risk.
• Reducing onset of chronic disease and supporting those with chronic conditions to live better through the provision of smoking cessation services and dietetic services.

• Developing and promoting cross-sectoral partnerships and collaborative practice to advance health and wellbeing initiatives and deliver improved health outcomes across key target populations.

• Supporting staff to enjoy improved health and wellbeing.

Government policy on Health care reform as outlined in Slaintecare sets out the need to further develop community services ensuring integration of service across acute and community settings. This involves a population health planning approach and Community Health Networks (CHNs) will be further developed providing health and social services to a population of 50,000 approx. The CHNs will also be complimented by community specialist teams (hubs) across a population of approximately 150,000 (3 CHNs) for those that have more complex needs.

In this way the networks provide the framework for both future healthcare reform and expansion, stratifying the population based on health needs, addressing health inequalities, supporting self-care, and ensuring that there is coherence to the efforts of both statutory and voluntary providers of services to work together.

The management of health conditions and population health and wellbeing are core components in the CHN/Community Specialist Team Hub models to ensure that communities are supported to stay well by assisting individuals to live well and live healthier lifestyles. The reform programme will involve building the capacity for health promotion and improvement and delivering services to the population at community network level within the CHO.