The Sustainable Model of Nurse-Family Partnership

Looking into the future of the patronage service "Nurse – Family Partnership", the Trust for Social Achievement Foundation held a national roundtable on "Sustainability of patronage care for pregnant women and children up to 2 years from vulnerable groups". We organised the event in collaboration with the National Centre for Public Health and Analysis (NCPAH) in the framework of the European Public Health Week.

Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy Ivan Krastev opened the forum by stressing the need for an integrated approach in the work of all institutions when it comes to maternal and child health. "The Ministry, I can guarantee you, will continue to support with all possible instruments - national or European, the initiatives with consultative, therapeutic and integrated support in the form of various patronage services," Krustev stressed. The need for intersectoral cooperation, as well as targeted work to support early childhood development through patronage care, especially among vulnerable groups, was also recognized in her speech by Dr. Tanya Andreeva, advisor to the Minister of Health. "We cannot improve the quality of life of segregated groups if we cannot do a real social inclusion and raise awareness among groups living in poverty regarding prevention and prevention," she added. The activities of the service and the results achieved with more than 300 vulnerable families in Sofia and Plovdiv since 2016 were presented to more than 40 representatives of institutions and NGOs, as well as doctors. Our partners from the NCPAH outlined the possible vision of how "Nurse – Family Partnership" could be integrated into the system of health services through the health advisory centers functioning under the National Program for Improving Maternal and Child Health.

During the event, we also drew attention to the good practices of patronage care in other European countries, as well as the development of this key support in a family environment from the point of view of the Ministry of Health. We look forward to further operational meetings with the Department to discuss the details of our vision for the sustainability of specialist patronage care.