Cross border health project’s positive impact in south Tyrone

PEOPLE in Dungannon and south Tyrone are benefiting from a European Union funded partnership between the statutory sector and eight community-based Hubs across Northern Ireland, the border counties of Ireland and the West of Scotland.

The CAWT Community Health Synchronisation (CoH-Sync) project received grant funding, totalling €5.01 million, from the EU’s INTERREG VA Programme, which is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body. Match-funding has been provided by the Departments of Health, Northern Ireland and Ireland, with support from the Scottish Government.

The project has been recognised as an exemplar cross-jurisdictional model for supporting population health and tackling health inequalities across the region.

Designed to help build the capacity of communities to deliver sustainable health and wellbeing programmes, the project supported the Hubs to recruit and train 40 local Community Health Facilitators to deliver a diverse range of healthy lifestyle programmes to the residents within their communities.

Gerard Rocks, who is the assistant director for Promoting Wellbeing at the Southern Health and Social Care Trust said, “I am delighted that Trust was able to secure a CoH-Sync Hub for the Armagh and Dungannon areas, managed by Connected Health. There has been such a positive response to the Hub, with many people valuing the support and information provided to enable them to achieve a healthier lifestyle, by making achievable and sustainable changes with the support of a Community Health Facilitator.

“The CoH-Sync Project will inform future activities to improve health and well-being.”

Health Minister Robin Swann said, “The project has enabled The Cooperation and Working Together Partnership (CAWT) to progress work on early intervention, prevention of disease and the reduction of health inequalities. This is a key priority for all the project partners and the Departments of Health. This initiative has transformed the lives of those experiencing isolation and poor mental and physical health – conditions further exacerbated by a global pandemic.”

Reflecting on the success of the CoH Sync project, Gina McIntyre, CEO of the Special EU Programmes Body said, “The Pandemic has highlighted the health inequalities that were present in health care provision across Northern Ireland, Ireland and Western Scotland.

“These inequalities are most acutely felt in deprived areas and therefore improving cross-border health and social care services is one of the core objectives of the EU INTERREG VA Programme.”

She added, “The CoH Sync project is an excellent example of a project which seeks to improve this provision and has done so through its community and well-being Hubs, which have demonstrated the powerful impact of cross-border partnerships.

“By empowering thousands of citizens to manage their own health and social care needs CoH Sync has developed preventative initiatives that will help to ensure the long-term viability of our health service.”