This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Have a Heart Paisley
14/03/2005
Have a Heart Paisley project will receive £4 million of
funding for a further three years, it was announced
today.
Have a Heart Paisley was launched in 2000 with the
long-term aim of changing the life of everyone in Paisley
with community action to prevent heart disease and reducing
levels of health inequality in the area.
The independent evaluation of Phase One of HaHP will
also be published today.
Deputy Health Minister Rhona Brankin said:
"Since the launch of Have a Heart Paisley in 2000, over
6500 local people have benefited from the health
improvement projects set up to reduce health inequalities
and heart disease in the area.
"A custom-built cardiac rehabilitation centre has been a
great success - access to services has been widened and
referral levels have increased by almost 100%. HaHP has
also supported over 140 community-led physical activity,
healthy eating and tobacco projects.
"I have no doubt that these initiatives are helping more
people to lead healthier lives and will in the long-term
contribute to a reduction in heart disease rates in
Paisley.
"I am delighted that we can support this project for
another three years with funding of more than £4 million.
Phase two of the Have a Heart Paisley project will focus
more on two groups - those already with heart disease and
those who are most at risk of developing it.
"Working age people are a key focus. Phase two of HaHP
will work with these target groups to develop preventative
measures such as increasing physical activity, developing
sensible eating plans and cutting down on smoking and
improving access to NHS and community services.
"This project has brought some direct health
improvements to people in Paisley. The number of smoke free
places in Paisley has increased and more people have taken
up exercise and became interested in healthier eating.
Also Renfrewshire Council, one of HaHP's partners, has
implemented a council-wide no smoking policy this
month.
"The introduction on the ban on smoking in public places
in 2006 should also contribute to reducing smoking and
therefore the risk of developing Heart Disease."
Some of the initiatives that Phase One of Have a Heart
Paisley has been involved in:
- Development of the first Coronary
Heart Disease register in the UK, which will be a key
tool in Phase two of HaHP.
- Heart Matters on the Move - a
fruit and vegetable van which provides healthy,
affordable and good quality food throughout
Paisley.
- Ralston Playgroup - encourages
physical activity in the under fives.
- Jogging buddies - A group of
parents set up a morning jogging group, 150 people take
part on a weekly basis.
- Eat Well to Play Well game -
rolled out to all pre-5 establishments in Paisley,
created for the pre-5 age group by dieticians, children
and pre-5 staff. It aims to teach the importance of
eating more healthily through active play.
- Health at Heart - Provision of a
new cardiac rehabilitation centre allowing a far higher
and more diverse section of patients to be
rehabilitated. Patients can also receive access to
help and advice for giving up smoking and healthier
eating.
- Smoke Free Class Competition -
This was conducted in secondary schools in Paisley with
the aim of discouraging experimentation with tobacco.
Almost 1900 young people participated over three
years.
Phase one of Have a Heart Paisley was launched in 2000
with £6 million of support from the Scottish Executive.
The Executive has committed £4,353,000 of funding to the
Have a Heart Paisley project for the next three years
(Phase Two).
Have a Heart Paisley is a partnership between NHS Argyll
and Clyde, Renfrewshire Council, the local community and
voluntary organisations.
An independent evaluation report carried out by
University of Glasgow of Phase One of the Have a Heart
Paisley project will be published today on the Scottish
Executive website. This report shows that changing
behaviours and reducing heart disease requires sustained,
long-term effort. The Heart Health National Learning
Network based at NHS Health Scotland was set up to capture
and share lessons learned from the HaHP project. More
information is available on their website -
www.phis.org.uk/projects/default.asp?p=fb
In Phase One, HaHP was made up of a total of 17 projects
including Health Programmes (healthy eating, physical
activity and a smoking cessation project called Call it
Quits), Health Service Programmes (heart renewal project,
central data repository, heart health promoters working in
the community), local authority projects, community
capacity (140 projects funded by HaHP with over 6000
participants from mainly disadvantaged areas and Paisley
Heart Awards (gained by 750 people).
This project is one of four national health
demonstration projects that were set up by the Executive to
test new ideas on health improvement and act as a learning
resource for the rest of Scotland. As part of the policy
framework set out in Towards A Healthier Scotland (1999),
HaHP, Starting Well, Healthy Respect and Cancer Challenge
were established for a three-year period. A commitment to
the second phase of three of these projects (Starting Well,
HaHP and Healthy Respect) was announced in Improving Health
in Scotland: The Challenge in 2003. Announcements on the
second phase of Starting Well and Healthy Respect will be
made shortly.