Health Promotion in Primary Healthcare

Health promotion (HP) is an essential component of Primary Health Organisations (PHOs). The goal of the Manaia Health PHO HP plan is “to be a health-promoting PHO”.

As a step towards this, Manaia Health PHO has set aside funding for HP initiatives in general practice. To encourage the development of effective HP initiatives, an introductory (eight x two hour sessions) HP programme was created for Manaia Health PHO practice nurses. The programme was planned and delivered by the Health Promotion Advisor at Manaia Health PHO and the Nursing Integration Leader at Kaipara Care Inc. Of the 16 Nurses who registered initially, 13 completed the programme.

The objectives of the programme were:

To provide practice nurses with a comprehensive understanding of HP models, values, theory and practice
To assist practice nurses to plan a HP promotion project for implementation in general practice.
To build a team of 'HP champions' within Manaia Health PHO general practices.

At the end of the programme nine HP projects have been planned. Of these, five HP funding applications have been submitted and are awaiting approval. The health promotion advisor will work alongside the nurses during the implementation and evaluation of each project. A range of initiatives to continue to support HP and the HP champions in general practice are planned including further training, an ongoing network and newsletter. Feedback from the participants was favourable and it is likely that another course will be run early in 2007.

For more information on this programme please click on the link below:

Evaluation Report (246kb)