th officially opens mary Care Centre

Care Ms. Anna Marie Lanigan. Speaking at the official opening, the Chief Officer Ms. Killeen White said: “Primary care centres, such as this state of the art one in Enniscorthy, together with the Integrated Care for Older People hubs such as the one in Wexford allow us to provide integrated and high-quality services closer to people’s homes. I want to thank the HSE staff, working in partnership with GPs and Primary Care Teams, who are already making a difference to the lives of people in the Enniscorthy area and throughout Co. Wexford.”

Mr. Pat Healy (National Director, Clinical Programme Implementation with the HSE) said: “Developed as part of implementing Sláintecare, the ECC programme aims to ensure all HSE primary and community care services work in an integrated way to meet population health needs across Ireland, to reduce dependence on hospital services and provide access to consultant-led specialist services in the community. This transformational programme will include 96 Community Healthcare Networks (CHNs), 30 Community Specialist Teams for Older Persons, 30 Community Specialist Teams for Chronic Disease and 3,500 additional staff when fully implemented. This marks a very significant step in supporting older people and people living with chronic disease by bringing specialist services closer to local communities and the people who need them and reducing pressure and dependence on hospital services.”

“An essential theme underlying this programme is developing a new, integrated model of care, which is responsive to the needs of local communities. This requires strong leadership and ownership at local level, bringing the relationship between General Practice, Primary Care and Specialist Community Care into a much more patient focused and integrated model of care in each locality.”

“The national Enhanced Community Care programme is, at its core, a reform programme representing an investment of €240 million to develop and enhance care in the community. It has been developed under the Sláintecare Programme to ensure all HSE primary and community care services work together effectively.”

Minister Donnelly was welcomed to the Enniscorthy Primary Care Centre by Chief Officer, HSE/South East Community Healthcare Ms. Kate Killeen White and Head of Service/Primary

James Browne, local TD and Minister, said: “This is a state of the art investment, one which will deliver comprehensive healthcare services for Enniscorthy district and the wider county well into the future.... With the addition of diagnostic services as part of the next phase of development, the numbers of people from Wexford having to travel far to hospital appointments will be reduced.”

More photos overleaf 

Minister for Health officially opens Enniscorthy Primary Care Centre

Stop Food Waste

Reducing your food waste helps the environment and saves money too. Stop Food Waste is the national campaign to give you information and tips on how to make the most of your food and avoid food waste. www.stopfoodwaste.ie

Will you take the Stop Food Waste 7-Day Challenge?

1st March was National Stop Food Waste Day and we are invited to record our food waste for one week to identify what types of food we waste most. To record the food that goes into your food bin (https://stopfoodwaste.ie/resource/measuring-yourfood-waste), you could:

 Keep a pen and pad by the food waste bin to take note each time you use it.

 Keep track of what you waste on your phone using the notes app.

 Use the Weekly Food Waste Recording Sheet, click here: https://stopfoodwaste.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/recordingsheet.pdf

At the end of the week, tally up your results and see which types of food you wasted the most. By knowing this, you can see where you can make savings on your food bill and take action!

The average Irish household can save around €700 a year by avoiding food waste. In the most recent national food waste attitudes survey commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency, three food types were identified as those wasted most often in Ireland:

 Bread (41%)

 Fruit (39%)

 Vegetables (38%)

If you find you waste any of these food types, or perhaps all three, don't worry, you're not alone! The good news is, there are easy steps we can all take to stop food waste: we can buy less, store better, eat it or freeze it.

BREAD (https://stopfoodwaste.ie/foods/bread)Freeze it and Eat It!

You can freeze bread if you have too much. Find out how to make the most of bread (https://stopfoodwaste.ie/shopping-andstorage/bread-blog-bread-basics).

You don't need to throw out stale bread. Find out how to stop wasting bread with Jamie Oliver's top tips (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrDNxEVuBFM).