October 18, 2024
The Special EU Programmes Body has recently announced an investment from the PEACEPLUS Programme of €34.6 million for four cross border health and social care projects.
The CAWT partner organisations are delighted to have secured this valuable investment.
The funding has been secured from PEACEPLUS Investment Area 4.1, which aims to create healthy and inclusive communities by ‘ensuring equal access to health care and fostering resilience of health systems, including primary care, and promoting the transition from institutional to family and community-based care.’
By implementing these projects, new and enhanced health and social care services will be developed by the CAWT partner organisations, which will benefit border populations. Specifically, the health and wellbeing of people will be improved, by enabling citizens to access quality health and social care services, in the most appropriate setting for their needs.
This funding investment will be used to support four large-scale cross border health and social care projects up to 2027. The four distinct projects, which are supported by the PEACEPLUS Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), are in the areas of children/young people’s mental health, adult mental health, frailty, and obesity. A common focus across all four projects includes the prevention of ill health and intervening early, reducing health inequalities, building strong partnerships with the community and voluntary sector, and maximising use of existing health and social care infrastructure.
Welcoming the announcement of PEACEPLUS funding for the region, Neil Guckian, Director General of CAWT and Chief Executive of the Western Health and Social Care Trust said: “PEACEPLUS funding is a fantastic additional investment at a time of considerable pressure on our health and social care services. The CAWT Partnership has an excellent track record in delivering EU INTERREG funded cross border projects and I am pleased that we have been successful in securing additional resources for border communities. These PEACEPLUS projects, when implemented in collaboration with our community and voluntary partners, will make a real difference to the health and well-being of individuals, families and communities.
He added: “We are thankful to SEUPB and both Departments of Health for this funding, and for their support and trust in the CAWT Partnership to deliver for citizens in border regions.
Commenting on this positive news for the border region, Dermot Monaghan, Deputy Director General of CAWT and the HSE’s Integrated Healthcare Area Manager for Donegal, said: “This investment secured by the CAWT Partnership will enable us, along with our voluntary and community stakeholders, to provide additional high quality, client and patient services in border regions. It will also enhance cross-border collaborative relationships and networking in order to support major reforms currently underway within the two jurisdictions. We are appreciative of this additional investment and look forward to rolling out new cross border health and social care services over the coming months.”
The CAWT Partnership was established in 1992, to enable the Health and Social Care statutory partner organisations to work together to improve the health and well-being of the border populations by working across boundaries and jurisdictions. Since then, more than 100,000 patients and clients, many of whom live in rural border areas, have benefitted from CAWT projects, more than 40,000 people have received training and over €70 million of funding has been invested in health and social care in the border region.