Human resources development for the operation of general practitioners' cluster

ARTICLE ARTICLE As it was detailed in previous Viewpoints, Hungary has launched a new primary health care model programme in four small areas of the most disadvantaged regions of the country, aiming to reorient primary health care towards prevention with the long-term hope of not only improving the health status of the general population but also reducing social inequalities in health. In addition to services that they are competent to provide as licensed health workers, professionals working in the clusters will carry out activities that they have not at all or have not regularly done so far such as planning and implementing health promotion projects in the community, assessing the health status according to specific guidelines, counselling on lifestyle issues, assisting chronic care with rehabilitation focus. They work in a novel cluster-team in which mutually supportive collaboration and communication skills and attitudes are required. Therefore, special training with varying emphasis is needed to prepare all participants for work in the cluster. The ‘core training’ introduces the basics of the Programme, its aims, participants, organization, activities and publicly available documents on the details of the Programme. This module covers the fundamentals of internal and external communication as well, providing a basic understanding of the concept of the Programme to all professional participants. The ‘health promotion’ module will cover details to all professionals working at the cluster level on the development and organization of health promotion programmes in community settings. Community participation is a vital element of these programmes on which much has been published in the health promotion literature. Of them, the scheme on the degree of participation and accompanying toolbox—providing a range of methods for …