About the Heart Health Network
The National Heart Health Network exists to blend emerging lessons from the national demonstration project Have a Heart Paisley with other pieces of work throughout Scotland and beyond, to inform future policy, practice and the evidence base in relation to heart health.
Background
Following the announcement in Towards a Healthier Scotland of the intention to create the national health demonstration
projects, Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for
change announced that Scotland-wide Learning Networks would
be established for each demonstration project.
View Towards a Healthier Scotland online (external link)
View Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change online (external link)
Funded directly by the Scottish Executive, the networks are managed by NHS Health Scotland. Since 2006, NHS Health Scotland has also assumed financial responsibility for the networks and their key areas of work are being integrated into the organisation’s wider strategic plans.
Work programme – Strand 1: Dissemination of learning from Have a Heart Paisley (HaHP)
This is done through a variety of mechanisms:
HaHP library
This collates all of the various outputs from the project and makes them available through the Health Scotland HaHP web pages.
Health Scotland HaHP web pages
The HaHP section of the Health Scotland Heart Health Network pages allows users to access all of the project outputs. In addition, it contains learning templates that summarise the key lessons from each of the various project strands and the "cross-cutting" project-wide lessons.
Also available through this site are the plans for Have a Heart Paisley Phase 2 and early outputs.
Local and National Events
These include project-hosted "learning days" that cover all elements of the project such as commissioning, evaluation, methodology and key lessons.
Work programme – Strand 2: Combining learning from HaHP with other local, national and international evidence to inform future heart health research, policy and practice in Scotland.
Publications and resources
A variety of resources and publications have been made available, including an
annual newsletter and a DVD telling the story of Phase 1.
Heart Health Network
The Heart Health Network consists of a database of over 1000 individuals and organisations. Members are routinely sent information relevant to HaHP and Heart Health.
A Guide to Preventing Cardiovascular Disease in Scotland
A major piece of work in 2004/2005 was the production and circulation of A Guide to Preventing Cardiovascular Disease in Scotland. This drew on a number of expert groups to make a series of recommendations related to local planning and the control/promotion of three key risk factors; smoking, physical activity and diet. The guide was designed to support Managed Clinical Networks develop local primary prevention strategies as recommended in the recent CHD and Stroke Strategy for Scotland.
For more information on the Guide, contact: Lynn Soutar.