Team recognised for helping to boost communities' health and wellbeing

A primary care team has been recognised for helping to enhance the health and wellbeing of its local communities.

Staff from the Penderi Local Cluster Collaborative (LCC) have hosted multiple free wellbeing events in recent years.

The aim has been to support and motivate people to improve their health and wellbeing by raising awareness of the different resources and services available to them closer to their home.

The LCC, which covers the Fforestfach, Brynhyfryd, Manselton, Gendros, Penlan, Portmead, Ravenhill, Treboeth and Blaenymaes areas of Swansea, has helped to educate and inspire its patients to live even healthier lifestyles.

Pictured: Penderi LCC lead Dr Sowndarya Shivaraj and Penderi LCC business development and implementation manager Anna Tippett receiving their award from the health board’s Interim Director of Workforce and Organisational Development Sarah Jenkins.

Each event has brought together a range of community groups, organisations and healthcare experts to share information with the public.

They have included organisations such as Swansea Carers Centre and Barnardo’s, as well as health board teams including the dietetic service, Help Me Quit and the immunisation service.

Now, the LCC’s commitment to enhancing its patients’ health and wellbeing has been recognised and highly commended at the health board’s One Bay Way Staff Awards, after being shortlisted in the Working Together category.

Dr Sowndarya Shivaraj, GP at Fforestfach Medical Centre and Penderi LCC lead, said: “We came up with this strategy to help enhance the health literacy of our community.

“Poor health literacy is associated with increased hospital admissions and re-admissions, less participation in preventative activities, poorer self-management of chronic conditions and poorer disease outcomes.

“We want to empower people to proactively manage their health and their overall wellbeing, which will help to improve population health.

“Community groups, services and health board teams have attended the events to provide face-to-face advice and support to our patients.

“The casual and friendly setting has helped to facilitate conversations between the public and the knowledgeable professionals.”

Not only do the events offer a chance for the public to gain information, but they also serve as an opportunity for the LCC to speak directly to patients to find out what support they want or need.

“Gathering feedback at each of the events has been really helpful,” Sowndarya added.

“The events provide an opportunity for us to speak to our patients and learn about what they want from us too.

“It can help us understand the barriers that prevent people accessing support that can help them live a healthier lifestyle.

“Those who have attended the events have found it useful to learn about what is available to them within the Penderi community.”

The LCC has even held an event at Cadle Primary School to teach pupils about the importance of their health and wellbeing.

More events are due to take place across the community over the coming months.

The cluster’s commitment to working with partner organisations and services to help educate and inspire the public to live healthier lives resulted in recognition at the health board’s One Bay Way Staff Awards.

The awards recognise the many fantastic projects, ideas, leadership developments and improvements to patient care over the past 12 months, with Penderi LCC being highly commended in the Working Together category.

Sowndarya said: “It has been an honour to be nominated and highly commended for our work in the Penderi LCC.

“The recognition has inspired our team to strive for even greater achievements in the coming years and continue enhancing the quality of care we provide to our patients.

“Hearing about the remarkable efforts of other teams who were awarded or highly commended in various areas of patient care has been truly inspirational and we have gained valuable insights from their outstanding work.”