"helped me get back on "track" with my life"

Dear Joan48,

As Team Lead in the Condition Management Programme (CMP), it is lovely to hear stories like yours of how the programme was able to help you get "back on track" by providing the support that you needed at the right time to help you feel better able to manage your health conditions. The exercise practitioner support, as you have highlighted, is a great addition to the programme.

Unfortunately, as you have mentioned, we often hear people say that they had never heard of the programme before, and sometimes that they could have availed of the support sooner if they had known about it. I would like to assure you that we are currently engaged in marketing and promotional activities to try and ensure that more people know about CMP and the support available to assist them to return to work.

Sharing your story here on Care Opinion as you have done is a great help to us in our endeavours, so thank-you very much for taking the time to do this. I will share your feedback with the rest of the staff within CMP, as I know that it will be a great encouragement to them.

With best wishes for the future,

Natalie

Natalie McCrea

Team Lead/Occupational Therapist

Dear Joan48,

As a result of your feedback which stated you had ‘never heard of the Condition Management Programme or the service it provides’ we have been working on a number of changes to promote and advertise the Condition Management Programme (CMP) more widely to increase awareness of the programme and the work focused support it provides.

Within the CMP Teams we worked together to update the content of our page on the Western Trust and Social Care website which our Communications Department have now uploaded in accessible format for those who are interested in finding out more about the programme.

We also worked with our local Care Opinion Coordinator Michelle Scott and her colleagues who have created a link / QR code to Care Opinion stories such as yours which may help others who may be thinking of approaching the service to see how it has helped those who have participated in it.

Since your feedback we have also engaged in a number of marketing events and had promotional stands in Altnagelvin Hospital, The South West Acute Hospital and the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital. We have developed a QR Code which is on our new pop up stand and business cards that people can easily lift to take away with them. In addition we have liaised with a number of community and voluntary organisations. We have attended Health and Well-being events and Jobs Fairs in our local Jobs and Benefits Offices. In addition to presenting an overview of CMP at two regional events and also delivering presentations to staff within the Western Health & Social Care Trust.

Our next step is to promote the CMP is via a social media campaign facilitated by our Communications Department which has commenced with posts on the Western Trust Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter.

We hope that these initiatives alongside additional ongoing planned promotional activity will serve to create greater awareness of the Condition Management Programme to enable us to reach out and connect with more people like you who may need to avail of the health and work focused support we provide.