Award winning Project Due to Close The award winning Up for It Project will be closing its doors to clients on 31st May 2012. Due to the current economic climate the projects existing funders NHS Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire Council have stated that there will be no further funding for the project beyond March 2012. Despite all efforts no other funding sources have been secured. Due to a reduction in funding in 2011, the project was forced to downscale and has delivered one to one counselling and stress management since then. The project has been running for more than 11 years and over the years more than 15,000 clients have accessed the programme. The project was set up in 2001 by the Blantyre/North Hamilton Social Inclusion Partnership with the aim of improving the overall health and well being of clients living in targeted areas of South Lanarkshire. Clients accessed all services free of charge and all received a comprehensive health check and then depending on the outcome could then access free physical activity sessions, weight management sessions and stress management. Up for it has also run several youth programmes over the years offering local young people the opportunity to participate in free leisure activities. This is a very sad time for the project. Up for It? has delivered an excellent service over the years that many residents of South Lanarkshire have benefited from. It is a great loss that these services will no longer be available. There are no free alternatives for clients in the community and NHS waiting times for referrals to counselling services are long. Clients referred to the service are seen within 2 weeks. Up for It? has won several awards over the years including the NHS Health and Life Improvement Award in November 2010. Up for It? would like to take this opportunity of thanking everyone that has supported the project over the years, from referral agencies, partners agencies, all the clients, the Board of Directors and the dedicated team of staff. The closure of the project will also result in 14 staff being made redundant. |
