HSE Donegal has launched a new self-management support website for adults living with long-term health conditions.
A launch event was held yesterday for the website in the Vestry Hall, St Conal’s, Letterkenny. The official launch was carried out by Co Donegal native Danny McDaid, 2 time Olympian and 4 time national marathon champion.
Danny has for many years championed the cause of diabetes care in Co Donegal, and he hailed this website as a very important initiative in progressing care for long-term health conditions such as diabetes, COPD, angina, stroke, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, chronic kidney disease, high blood pressure and many others.
Danny McDaid speaking at the launch of the Donegal Self Management website
The event was well attended by members of the public, health and social care professionals, and the community and voluntary sector.
Maeve McKeon, self-management support coordinator, explained that ‘self-management’ describes the actions the individual must undertake in order to live with a long-term health condition – these include:
- clinical tasks such as monitoring their fluid balance, testing their blood sugar levels, taking their own blood pressure, using clinical devices and equipment, managing medication regimes.
- coping with symptoms such as fatigue, breathlessness or weakness;
- managing feelings of depression, anxiety and fear
- dealing with the effects of the condition on their relationships, their employment, their finances and their social lives and roles.
- Changing health behaviours, eg stopping smoking, increasing exercise, changing diet
A HSE spokesperson says: “Getting a diagnosis of a long-term health condition can be devastating in itself, and yet the person is expected, overnight, to become expert in managing all these new, unwelcome facets of their lives.
“The time spent face to face with the GP or healthcare professionals is minimal, research suggests it is around 3 hours per year for someone with diabetes. The expectation is that the person self-manages for the remaining 8757 hours in the year.
“There is a clear need to support people to self-manage, and not only the person themselves but their family and carers also.
“Self management support interventions aim to develop within the person the skills, knowledge and confidence necessary to become good self-managers.
“Supporting patients with long-term health conditions and their families to self-manage is a priority of the HSE since 2017, with the publication of the framework document: ‘Living well with a chronic condition’.”
However Co Donegal is ahead of the curve, with self-management support programmes for adults with long-term health conditions already well embedded.
Kevin McCaul of Libraries Ireland at the launch of the Donegal Self Management website
This website is the first of its kind in the country and showcases these 13 free programmes available in Co Donegal to support adults living with long-term health conditions to self manage well.
The website is also a platform for reliable and up to date information about conditions, programmes and services.
4 in 10 people over 50 years of age in Ireland have at least one long-term condition. Eight in 10 people over 65 years have a long-term health condition and 6 in 10 over 65 have 2 or more of such conditions.
“The odds are short that all of us will need support for living with a long term health condition, whether for ourselves, or for a loved one.”
It is hoped this website will be a valuable one-stop shop for anyone seeking guidance and support for living well with long-term health conditions.
There are 13 programmes and services featured on the site. Some are relevant to specific health conditions and others are generic – meaning they offer support for the challenges commonly met by people living with any long-term health condition.
- Pulmonary Rehabilitation, for adults living with lung conditions such as COPD
- DESMOND, for people living with Type 2 Diabetes
- CODE, for people living with Type 2 Diabetes (delivered by Diabetes Ireland)
- Stanford ‘Quality of Life’ for people living with any long term health condition, and for carers
- Confidence to Care, for people living with or caring for someone with a life-limiting condition
- Social Prescribing: Connecting people with non-medical community supports
- Smoking Cessation
- Falls Prevention
- Stress Control (delivered by Donegal Mind Wellness) for anyone seeking help managing stress
- Continence Care
- Carers and Stroke Carers
- Solas, supporting adults during mental health recovery
Of the hundreds of testimonials gathered from participants in these programmes, one such was selected and read out at the event.
This was from a participant in the Pulmonary Rehab programme:
“I found it difficult to carry my dinner plate from the kitchen to the living room before I started, I was so easily exhausted. I was frightened to be by myself because of my breathlessness… I am a new woman now, I can go out for the day, go to the hairdressers which I had stopped doing, catch two buses to visit my daughter, I have gained so much confidence and got my life back again. I am delighted and very grateful for being given this opportunity.”
This reflects the aspiration of the self-management support project: empowering and enabling patients to live well with their long-term health conditions.
To check out the website, follow this link: https://www.hse.ie/selfmanagementsupport-donegal
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