Residents of North Tyneside now have a fourth Healthy Living Centre in the borough thanks to £140,000 investment from North Tyneside Primary Care Trust and the Big Lottery Fund.

The new centre is in Moor Park next to Moor Park’s Children’s Centre in New York and will give people living in the North Shields area of the borough access to healthy living advice in the heart of their local community. It opens its doors to the public on 21st May 2007 with an official opening ceremony to take place in June. Telephone bookings for Moor Park will be taken from Monday 14th to Friday 18th May on 0191 257 6051.

The borough already has three healthy living centres at Battle Hill, Meadowell and Dudley People’s Centre which are run by North Tyneside PCT and funded via the Big Lottery Fund. The centres include gyms and access to advice and services such as stop smoking, contraception, health walks and other community services. Residents have made over 113,000 visits to the three healthy living centres since they opened in July 2003.

Professor Vivien Hollyoak, Director of Public Health, said:
“We are delighted to open our fourth healthy living centre in Moor Park. It’s taken a lot of planning but we were determined to find the right location so the local residents could benefit from having a centre near where they live.

“North Tyneside’s healthy living centres are playing a key role in delivering the government’s public health white paper - ‘Choosing Health – making healthy choices easier’. We need to reduce health inequalities and by having centres like this in local communities we are making it easier for people to take control of their own health and enjoy a healthier lifestyle.”

Healthy living centres are for people on a low income, benefits or are registered disabled. They are also for people referred by a health professional such as their GP or nurse because they have been diagnosed with a medical condition and support from healthy living centre staff can help them control their medical condition.

People who are retired and young people aged 14 to 16 years can also use the centres.

The PCT’s healthy living centre staff are qualified fitness instructors which  includes cardiac rehabilitation, stop smoking advisors and offer a C-card service which involves the giving out of contraceptives and sexual health advice to under 25 year olds.

Maureen Turner, Healthy Living Centre Coordinator, said that healthy living centres not only help people become fitter and healthier to improve their lives – but they also have an important role in the local community.

Maureen said: “A variety of people from different backgrounds and with mixed abilities use the centres. They tell us what a fantastic difference the help and support they’ve received has had on their lives. And because they are given one to one support and close supervision it gives them the confidence to keep going and they see how much they have improved.”

ENDS

For further information please contact Caroline Latta, communications manager, NHS North of Tyne on 0191 291 9305 or 07949 118989 e-mail: caroline.latta@northoftyne.nhs.uk