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Duchy Health Charity funds integrated health centres in schools.

The Duchy Health Charity has provided £783,000 of capital funding to build Integrated Health Centres in three Cornish Schools, Budehaven Community School, Hayle School Hayle, and Penair School, Truro. The centre at Penair, the first to be completed, was opened on 3 July by the Prince of Wales.

This pilot project is the result of an innovative seminar organised by The Duchy Health Charity in 2006, at which young peoples’ health issues were explored. At the seminar students claimed that healthcare provision for those of school age was fragmented and often inaccessible, and that they were not consulted about their anxieties and requirements. Health and education professionals agreed that young people in Cornwall face special difficulties in accessing health services in the community, particularly when they live in more rural areas.

School-based Independent Health Centre services have been developed to meet these and other local needs. The Centres will give young people the chance to manage their lives and avoid making harmful decisions. They will be provided with information and guidance on health, wellbeing, diet, exercise and healthy eating, and on smoking, exam stress, alcohol and drug abuse and sexual health. They will be offered support for depression and other mental health problems. The emphasis is on prevention and early intervention.

The centres were designed after consultation with young people, parents, governors and local communities. Students took part in identifying potential services, in planning and equipping the Centres, and in arrangements for their management.

The School-based Independent Health Centre project is run in partnership by The Duchy Health Charity, The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health, NHS Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall’s Children’s Services Authority.

Cornwall’s Director of Children’s Schools and Families said that by funding these centres, The Duchy Health Charity acted as a catalyst to make good ideas into a reality. "The Charity has made a genuinely beneficial contribution to the health of people in Cornwall."