Plan to help voluntary sector deliver health care welcomed
Government plans to involve charities and other voluntary organisations in helping to deliver health and social care have been welcomed by a pharmacist already working with a community group in Northern Ireland.
Terry Maguire has been involved in health projects with a women’s
group in the Falls Road area of Belfast, where he runs one of his two
pharmacies. One scheme focused on smoking cessation while another involved
helping 135 clinically obese women to lose weight. Both schemes were
set up under a government initiative in Northern Ireland called “Building
the community pharmacy partnership”.
Mr Maguire, who is also vice-chairman of PharmacyHealthLink, said: “Working
in the community, pharmacists are a major social capital, which I think
is a concept that some pharmacists don’t understand so well.”
The projects in Belfast illustrate what can be achieved when pharmacists
work in partnership with local community groups. Their success comes
ahead of the announcement last week by the Department of Health that
it is setting up a task force, made up of representatives from voluntary
organisations, the NHS and the DoH to look at developing partnerships
between the statutory and voluntary sectors.
Its first goal will be to look at how to break down barriers which prevent
some voluntary sector organisations becoming involved in delivering health
and social care services.
Government care services minister Liam Byrne said: “To harness
the full potential of the [voluntary] sector we need to transform our
relationship with the sector so that it truly reflects our vision of
partnership.” |
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