Older Persons Neighbourhood Support (OPENS) Fund

Support for local partners from the VCS sector to work collaboratively and put together an application for the OPENS fund.

Benefit of health promotion

Health promotion supports personal and social development and enables people to take more control over their own health. Providing information and screening are some examples of health promotion. Giving people access to relevant and accurate health information puts them in a better position to make healthier choices for prevention and self-management of conditions. Qualitative data shows that opportunistic and community-based screening opportunities can reach people who would not have accessed screening otherwise.

Location

Ardwick and Longsight

Project team

Buzz Health and Wellbeing service

Manchester Bangladeshi Women's Organisation

Manchester Cares

Together Dementia Support

TLC St Luke

MCC – fund provider

Aim

This project aimed to work with the Age Friendly network in Ardwick and Longsight to ensure that the £89,180 available through the Older Persons Neighbourhood Support Fund was applied for with a project informed by local need.

Evaluation

This project brought together the strengths of 4 Voluntary Community Services organisations who are committed to working together to provide a strong and cohesive project. This partnership will be working alongside Manchester City Council to develop their vision further and successfully receive the OPENS fund available to this neighbourhood.

Strategic links to local/national policies

Benefit	Policy
Empowers people	Healthy Lives, Healthy People (HM Government, 2010) NHS Five Year Forward View (Department of Health, 2014)
Supports prevention	Greater Manchester Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy The Manchester Prevention Programme
Supports self-care and self-management of conditions	Make Every Contact Count (Future Forum, Department of Health, 2011) Taking Charge of our Health and Social Care in Greater Manchester (GMCA, 2015) Manchester’s Self-Care Strategy
Increases participation for groups who would not usually access	Fair Society, Healthy Lives (Institute of Health Equity, 2010)