The NOVA National School of Public Health (NOVA NSPH) has signed a pioneering protocol with the Santa Maria Local Health Unit (ULS Santa Maria), to implement a Social Prescription project that will be developed in partnership with the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Service of that hospital unit.
The collaboration protocol, signed by the dean of NOVA NSPH, Sónia Dias, and the president of ULS Santa Maria, Carlos das Neves Martins, will enable joint training, research and technical support initiatives in the area of Social Prescription, while also strengthening the impact of Public Health.
This protocol demonstrates that innovation in Health is not only materialised in technology or therapeutic advances, but also in new approaches that meet the needs of users in the community, stressed the dean of NOVA NSPH and the president of ULS Santa Maria at the signing ceremony, with Sónia Dias pointing out that there were already projects in the area of primary health care, but that this is the first project focused on the hospital area.
‘There are a number of new practices and different ways of providing care and this is an innovative project in that sense, showing openness and being a pioneer in the way it thinks about the health system,’ said Sónia Dias.
The agreement now signed will focus on training human resources, sharing knowledge and implementing strategic projects. The protocol also provides for training programmes, internships and technical support for research projects, helping to increase the impact and effectiveness of health interventions.
Find out more about Social Prescription and NOVA NSPH’s activity in this area here.
