Traveller Focus Week - improving health and wellbeing

Members of the Traveller community and their support organisations joined the Public Health Agency and the Health and Social Care Board at an event in Dungannon to mark Traveller Focus Week (5 - 11 December) by sharing the progress made, and celebrating good practice in meeting the health and wellbeing needs of Travellers.These needs were identified in the 'All Ireland Traveller Health Study' by University College Dublin in June 2010. It estimated that there are 3,905 Travellers living in 1,562 families in Northern Ireland, and the stark findings include that when compared with the life expectancy of the general population, male Travellers lose 15 years of life and females lose 11 years.The report made a number of recommendations, including:prioritising mother and children's health; enhanced preventative work for respiratory and cardiovascular disease, as well as better risk detection and management of the disease; development of primary care interventions which involve Travellers engaging with other Travellers in health improvement;engagement of men and young men in improving health and wellbeing and access to healthcare.Speaking at the event, Mary Black, Assistant Director of Public Health (Health and Social Wellbeing Improvement) PHA, said: "The Public Health Agency works in partnership to promote health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities."This event with the Travellers Health and Wellbeing Forum was an important opportunity to look at progress against agreed priorities and share good practice across Northen Ireland and the successful work of the Forum. One such example is the recruitment of Travellers into employment as health workers developed by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and part-funded by the PHA. Other areas are also considering work placements and all of this developing practice will help inform future partnerships with employers and help break down the real prejudice that can be experienced by Travellers."We also heard about the progress Travellers have made in their own right, and their views about how the Travelling community is fully engaged and participates in the future development of the Forum and programmes that aim to improve health and wellbeing and contribute to a more equal society."Mark Donahue, Equality Officer, An Munia Tober (a Traveller support organisation), added "The event was a great success in terms of highlighting the main health issues for Travellers, which came out of the All Ireland Traveller Health Study. I was heartened to see a great turn out by the Traveller community from all over Northern Ireland and also by the interest and commitment of so many public agencies and other organisations to work together to improve Traveller health."The event, at 'Breakthru' in Dungannon, also brought together representatives from the five health and social care trusts, Cooperation and Working Together (CAWT), Housing and key voluntary sector organisations, all involved in delivering the recommendations from the 'All Ireland Traveller Health Study'.

Cardiovascular health and wellbeing profile for Northern Ireland

The PHA, supported by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) and other agencies and individuals, has completed a health impact assessment (HIA) on the Cardiovascular Service Framework (CVSFW) for Northern Ireland.The CVSFW is the first in a series of service frameworks developed in Northern Ireland to guide HSC provision from prevention and health improvement over early intervention in communities and general practice into hospital and other institutional settings towards rehabilitation, palliative care and end of life.The CVSFW is relevant to everyone who has a part in HSC services for health improvement, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease (stroke), peripheral vascular disease and renal disease. This includes patients, carers, families, communities, voluntary and statutory service providers, policy makers and researchers.

Cardiovascular health and wellbeing in Northern Ireland - Literature review

The PHA, supported by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) and other agencies and individuals, has completed a health impact assessment (HIA) on the Cardiovascular Service Framework (CVSFW) for Northern Ireland.The CVSFW is the first in a series of service frameworks developed in Northern Ireland to guide HSC provision from prevention and health improvement over early intervention in communities and general practice into hospital and other institutional settings towards rehabilitation, palliative care and end of life.The CVSFW is relevant to everyone who has a part in HSC services for health improvement, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease (stroke), peripheral vascular disease and renal disease. This includes patients, carers, families, communities, voluntary and statutory service providers, policy makers and researchers.

Quality Standards for Services Promoting Mental and Emotional Wellbeing and Suicide Prevention

These standards will apply to all organisations providing mental & emotional wellbeing and suicide prevention services which are funded by the PHA.

Improving young people's health and wellbeing: a framework for public health

The Framework has been developed as a resource to enable local areas in the delivery of their public health role for young people. It poses questions for councillors, health and wellbeing boards, commissioners, providers and education and learning settings to help them support young people to be healthy and to improve outcomes for young people. This is a new framework, which has been developed with support from Association of Young People’s Health and with input from those across health, education, youth services and local and national government.

Promoting young people's social and emotional wellbeing in secondary education.

This guidance is for all those who have a responsibility for the social and emotional wellbeing of young people in secondary education. This includes teachers, support staff, governors and professionals with public health as part of their remit working in education (including the independent sector), local authorities, the NHS and the wider public, voluntary and community sectors. It focuses on interventions to support all young people aged 11-19 who attend any education establishment. Social and emotional wellbeing includes being happy, confident and in control, with the ability to solve and cope with problems and have good relationships with other people. The six recommendations cover: strategy, the key principles and conditions, working in partnership with parents, families and young people, the curriculum, and training and professional development. They include: â?¢ Secondary education establishments should have access to the specialist skills, advice and support they require. â?¢ Practitioners should have the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to develop young peopleâ?Ts social and emotional wellbeing. â?¢ Secondary education establishments should provide a safe environment which nurtures and encourages young peopleâ?Ts sense of self-worth, reduces the threat of bullying and violence and promotes positive behaviour. â?¢ Social and emotional skills education should be tailored to the developmental needs of young people.This resource was contributed by The National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

Making the Link Between Obesity and wellbeing

Making the links between Obesity & Well-being. A briefing paper developed for Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) North West. The paper covers the epidemiology and evidence of links between health and obesity. Mental well-being is a key factor of obesity and weight management. Good mental health is a protective factor for good physical health and against physical illness and is essential for making healthy lifestyle choices and behaviour changes. Poor mental health can lead to unhealthy lifestyle choices and unhealthy weight management. Obesity and physical illness can also lead to poor mental health. People with mental health problems, especially severe, are also at increased risk of obesity and related poor health. In order to ensure that strategies and programmes effectively address the relevant mental well-being factors, a mental well-being impact assessment (MWIA) could be undertaken. This process is based on health impact assessment methodology and a set of evidence based mental well-being determinants and factors, grouped under the four themes of enhancing control, increasing resilience and community assets, facilitating participation and promoting inclusion. The process also involves identifying indicators to measure progress. Evaluation shows it is effective in engaging stakeholders in service development and evaluation and it increases understanding of mental well-being and its determinants.

Measuring impact: Improving the health and wellbeing of people in mid-life and beyond

Measuring impact is the third in a series of publications commissioned by the Health Development Agency from the mid-life programme of work, which seeks to improve the health and wellbeing of people in the mid-life age group and reduce inequalities. The publications Making the case (HDA, 2003) and Taking action (HDA, 2004), and now Measuring impact, aim to support practitioners and policy makers at a local level in implementing and using the evidence of what works to develop mainstream practice and influence policy formulation in this population group.

Health and Social Wellbeing Improvement Team (West) 2012 / 2013 Annual Report

In 2012/13 the Western Health Improvement Team invested over �4 million in a range of initiatives to address health and social wellbeing improvement and target inequalities.The range of initiatives access over 170 projects, which includes a mix of regular commissioning work and innovative development work testing new ideas. Over 250,000 individuals and groups were direct beneficiaries of the programmes; however, previous evaluations have demonstrated that the cascade effect of these initiatives was at least threefold.This comprehensive report outlines the broad range of activities and initiatives that the Western Health Improvement Team has supported during 2012/2013.

Health and wellbeing at work: a resource guide

This resource guide aims to support employers and employees to access information on improving health and wellbeing at work.Putting in place an effective workplace health programme that meets the needs of each business requires access to effective tools and information, which will help assess the needs of employees and assist with developing and implementing plans.This guide uses the World Health Organization (WHO) model as the basis for developing a workplace health programme. The WHO model involves eight stages and four aspects of the working environment.Included in the guide are information and contact details for organisations in Northern Ireland that can provide information and support to businesses on each of these aspects.The guide also includes case studies on local businesses that implemented a workplace health programme and a sample health and wellbeing action plan.�

Directory of services to help improve mental health and emotional wellbeing

These five directories list the names, numbers and web addresses (where applicable) of organisations that offer services to help improve mental health and emotional wellbeing. Where possible, additional information has also been provided, such as email addresses and contact details within each Health and Social Care Trust area.