Heart of Our City

The Heart of Our City pilot project was officially launched in September 2021 and marked the beginning of the Smart D8 pilot project series. Heart of Our City, a collaboration by the Irish Heart Foundation, Smart D8 and Novartis, addressed serious gaps in health literacy and healthcare access for communities across Dublin 8, focusing on person-centered care and social prescribing interventions. The pilot connected residents to existing health and community resources, leveraged collective strengths, and fostered new collaborations to tackle barriers identified through local community research conducted by Smart D8 at the start of 2021. Heart health was identified as a significant area of concern for local citizens, with 23% of respondents indicating they would like more support and information. By providing these supports to improve heart health, the Heart of Our City project aimed to reduce pressure on local health services, while also reducing unplanned hospitalisations.

A key ambition of the pilot was to increase public engagement with pre-existing services in the area. In addition to boosting local awareness, the pilot aimed to enhance knowledge of social prescribing services among GPs and healthcare professionals in St James’ Hospital to create links between these healthcare services and this important community asset. During the pilot phase, a total of 9 individuals were referred directly into the Fatima Groups United Social Prescribing Service. Each of these individuals underwent an initial assessment with a social-prescribing link worker and was then supported to access local services with improvement of cardiovascular health in mind.

Under the umbrella of Heart of Our City, ExWell Medical ran exercise classes in the Dublin 8 community, tailored specifically to improve cardiovascular health. A mobile health unit was also made available across four community locations in the Dublin 8 area, which attracted a total of 181 people, all of whom received a blood pressure check, information on heart health, and lifestyle advice.

Significant numbers of individuals accessed the services made available during the course of this project, including the FGU Social Prescribing Service, the ExWell Medical exercise classes and the Irish Heart Foundation Mobile Health Unit Health Checks. Heart of Our City created clearer access paths to these services where they may not have previously existed. Outcomes were very positive for a large number of those utilising these services. There were statistically significant improvements in all aspects of physical health assessed in the ExWell Medical exercise class participants, as well as in self-rated health. Likewise, 80% of those surveyed stated that they had made positive lifestyle changes in areas such as physical activity and diet after visiting the IHF Mobile Health Unit. These results highlight the positive impact services of this kind can make in a short time. In the original Smart D8 Community Survey, 21% of individuals in D8 stated that they had unmet healthcare needs due to waiting lists. By offering access to services of this kind in the community, Heart of Our City has addressed some of that need.

This project facilitated in-person health screening for 181 people, of whom 35.36% were identified as having high blood pressure. A total of 35.92% of those screened were referred to their GP for further assessment of blood pressure, and 50.81% were referred for other concerns related to cardiovascular health. Similarly, records of 2,485 patients attending one GP practice were reviewed, and 116 new individuals were identified as having cardiovascular disease. The benefit of Heart of Our City has been in identifying these patients early and alerting local healthcare services so that timely action can be taken to improve their health and, over time, reduce the risk of unplanned hospitalisation.

Overall, the Heart of Our City project model and the insights gained from it demonstrate a scalable approach that can be effectively applied to the early detection and management of other chronic diseases in the future.

“Highly recommended. I didn’t know I had high blood pressure and cholesterol until I went. My son was also diagnosed with hypertension after a check like this. Should have it more often in the community” – Dublin 8 Participant

“Getting a text on the day might help some people remember to attend. My sister was rushed to hospital last week with a serious heart condition and has just been discharged. I feel a service like this would have helped her before it became so serious” – Dublin 8 Community Member