Cancer Publication March 2008 (PDF 232 KB)

This statistics release gives details of the waiting times for patients accessing cancer services at hospitals in Northern Ireland during the month of March 2008. The data contained within this release reports on the performance of all Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland, measured against the three Priorities for Action (PfA) targets for 2007/08 relating to waiting times for cancer services in Northern Ireland during March 2008. åÊ

Inequalities Monitoring Update Second Bulletin 2007 (PDF 1952 KB)

Despite some relative improvements, there is a continuing health gap between the most deprived areas and NI overall. This is most evident in the potential years of life lost, infant mortality rates, teenage births, standardised admission rates to hospitals and cancer incidence rates indicators. The suicide rate within deprived areas, although still considerably higher (almost 50% higher), is now closer to the overall NI rate. Despite the reduction in the inequality gap, there was a recent increase in the number of deaths attributed to suicide across all areas. The extent to which this increase in suicides actually indicates an increase in the problem or it is due to recording/reporting practices changing over time has not been established. Life expectancy has been increasing in recent years for both males and females in both deprived areas and NI overall and there is no evidence of a narrowing of the inequality gap. The gap between deprived areas and Northern Ireland was maintained for circulatory and respiratory standardised death rates. The gap between the proportion of the deprived population suffering from a mood or anxiety disorder and that in NI overall has also remained fairly steady. Deprived areas actually fared better than NI generally for relative hospital waiting times and ambulance response times (although this may be an urban issue). åÊ

Assessments by Community Occupational Therapists in Northern Ireland - 30 September 2006 (PDF 180 KB)

Presents information on referrals for assessment, waiting times for assessment, and assessments commenced during the quarter.

Quality and Fairness - A Health System for You

Over the last four years health services in Ireland have benefited from the largest ever sustained increase in funding. Facilities are being developed and refurbished, more staff are being hired and the number of people benefiting from health services has increased substantially. A lot has been achieved, but a lot remains to be done. Very clear deficiencies in services remain which must be addressed. There are unacceptably long waiting times in various parts of the system, important services remain underdeveloped and major demographic challenges must be addressed. By doubling health funding over the last four years, the Government has moved the debate on health funding from resources alone to both resources and reform. Download the Report here

Clean hands? It's OK to ask

This poster is part of an extension of the cleanyourhands campaign, aimed at preventing the spread of healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) in community healthcare settings including primary care and dental services, residential and nursing homes (including independent sector homes), hospices and independent clinics/hospitals. It is designed to heighten awareness in patient/relative waiting areas of how healthcare staff can help protect patients from avoidable infections by cleaning their hands. Due to licensing restrictions, this poster is not available for download. Limited numbers are available from local HSC Trusts (Belfast HSCT and South Eastern HSCT on 028 9056 5862; Southern HSCT on 028 3741 2887; Northern HSCT on 028 2563 5575; Western HSCT on 028 7186 5127).

Help us to prevent infections spreading

This leaflet is part of an extension of the cleanyourhands campaign, aimed at preventing the spread of healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) in community healthcare settings including primary care and dental services, residential and nursing homes (including independent sector homes), hospices and independent clinics/hospitals. It is designed to heighten awareness in patient/relative waiting areas of how healthcare staff can help protect patients from avoidable infections by cleaning their hands using proper techniques. Due to licensing restrictions, this leaflet is not available for download. Limited numbers are available from local HSC Trusts (Belfast HSCT and South Eastern HSCT on 028 9056 5862; Southern HSCT on 028 3741 2887; Northern HSCT on 028 2563 5575; Western HSCT on 028 7186 5127).

Try walking instead

This poster encourages people to get more physically active by taking the stairs instead of waiting for the lift.

Shaping the future: applying therapy research to practice

In these challenging financial times the use of research as a basis for effective health and social care cannot be overstated. 'Shaping the Future', a joint Public Health Agency and University of Ulster workshop (27 January) takes a fresh look at research within the Allied Health Professions (AHPs) to improve the care and experiences of people across Northern Ireland.The AHPs provide a wide range of services including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, radiography, podiatry, speech and language therapy and orthoptics.The nature of their work enables AHPs to carry out research that can rapidly benefit patient care and experience. 'Shaping the Future' will look at priorities for new AHP research and consider how existing research can be more effectively shared and used in health and social care development, rather than perhaps being limited to the academic world.Speaking at the event, Professor Bernie Hannigan, Director of Health and Social Care Research and Development (HSC R&D), aDivision of the PHA, said: "A sound base of evidence from research is vital for effective health and social care practice. I welcome this study as an important resource that will help generate new evidence and highlight the potential for existing evidence to be applied in practice. The evidence base points to beneficial innovations that use the most up-to-date knowledge and keep the service user at the centre of care practices. At this event, health and social care policy makers, commissioners, academics and researchers will be able to consider how they can do and use research to ensure our AHP services deliver the best outcomes for patients and are sufficiently cost-effective to be sustained."A recent study funded by HSC R&D was carried out by the University of Ulster working closely with leading AHPs, key stakeholders and service users* from throughout Northern Irealnd. Presenting the results of this study at the 'Shaping the Future' event will help to identify ways to gather evidence and contribute to innovative projects and programmes.Professor Suzanne McDonough, of the Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Research Centre at the University of Ulster, said: "In our study we used the Delphi technique, which is a structured process using a series of questionnaires, to gather information and gain consensus from AHP groups, stakeholders and service users."The results identified seven major priority areas for research. These ranged from: the need for more practice evaluation particularly in the areas of mental health, cancer, obesity; diabetes; chronic disease management (especially stroke and brain injury); the role of AHPs in health promotion; service delivery issues such as access to services and waiting times. This study provides an important road map for AHP research priorities. It is the first step in the process of identifying what research still needs to be undertaken, what research already exists but needs to be translated, and some of the processes that need to be in place to ensure that research is an integral part of the day-to-day practice of AHPs and of service delivery."

Third annual report of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS)

16,080 Irish children (1.55% of population under 18 yrs.) availing of Community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services   7,849 new cases were seen by community CAMHS teams between October 2010 and September 2011,compared with 7,561 in the previous 12 months   45% of referrals are seen within 1 month of referral and 69% within 3 months   Numbers waiting for CAMHS services down by 20%   61 multi-disciplinary Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services teams in place .This resource was contributed by The National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

Whole-person care: from rhetoric to reality. Achieving parity between mental and physical health.

The report presents evidence on a range of factors affecting disparity between mental and physical health, and includes case studies and examples of good practice to illustrate some of the key issues and solutions. It should be seen as the first stage of an on-going process over the next 5"10 years that will deliver parity for mental health and make whole-person care a reality. It builds on the Implementation Framework for the Mental Health Strategy in providing further analysis of why parity does not currently exist, and the actions required to bring it about. A parity approach should enable NHS and local authority health and social care services to provide a holistic, whole person response to each individual, whatever their needs, and should ensure that all publicly funded services, including those provided by private organisations, give people's mental health equal status to their physical health needs. Central to this approach is the fact that there is a strong relationship between mental health and physical health, and that this influence works in both directions. Poor mental health is associated with a greater risk of physical health problems, and poor physical health is associated with a greater risk of mental health problems. Mental health affects physical health and vice versa. The report makes a series of key recommendations for the UK government, policy-makers and health professionals. Recommendations include: The government and the NHS Commissioning Board should work together to give people equivalent levels of access to treatment for mental health problems as for physical health problems, agreed standards for waiting times, and agreed standards for emergency/crisis mental healthcare. Action to promote good mental health and to address mental health problems needs to start at the earliest stage of a person's life and continue throughout the life course. Preventing premature mortality " there must be a major focus on improving the physical health of people with mental health problems. Public health programmes must include a focus on the mental health dimension of issues commonly considered as physical health concerns, such as smoking, obesity and substance misuse. Commissioners need to regard liaison doctors (who work across physical and mental healthcare) as an absolute necessity rather than an optional luxury. NHS and social care commissioners should commission liaison psychiatry and liaison physician services to drive a whole-person, integrated approach to healthcare in acute, secure, primary care and community settings, for all ages. Mental health services and mental health research must receive funding that reflects the prevalence of mental health problems and their cost to society. Mental illness is responsible for the largest proportion of the disease burden in the UK (22.8%), larger than that of cardiovascular disease (16.2%) or cancer (15.9%). However, only 11% of the NHS budget was spent on NHS services to treat mental health problems for all ages during 2010/11. Culture, attitudes and stigma " zero-tolerance policies in relation to discriminatory attitudes or behaviours should be introduced in all health settings to help combat the stigma that is still attached to mental illness within medicine. Political and managerial leadership is required at all levels. There should be a mechanism at national level for driving a parity approach to relevant policy areas across government; all local councils should have a lead councillor for mental health; all providers of specialist mental health services should have a board-level lead for physical health and all providers of physical healthcare services should have a board-level lead for mental health. The General Medical Council (GMC) and Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) should consider how medical and nursing study and training could give greater emphasis to mental health. Mental and physical health should be integrated within undergraduate medical education.This resource was contributed by The National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

Organ donation: Public attitudes and stakeholder engagement in Northern Ireland 2013

In June 2013, a representative sample of the public (n=1,012) responded to a survey about their attitudes towards organ donation. At the same time, a process of stakeholder engagement began, which involved 16 discussion groups with key stakeholders as requested by the Health Minister (including organ donation charities, those on the transplant waiting list, transplant recipients, donor families, and Health and Social Care staff). Discussion groups took place between June and August 2013 and proformas were also completed. The central purpose of this public and stakeholder engagement process was to inform the direction of a public information campaign that will be developed by the Public Health Agency (PHA).The�report highlights the findings from this programme of work.

Evaluation of a Public Information Campaign on Organ Donation

In June 2013, the PHA surveyed the Northern Ireland public about their attitudes towards organ donation. At the same time, a process of stakeholder engagement took place with organ donation charities, those on the transplant waiting list, recipients, donor families, and Health and Social Care staff, to inform the direction of a public information campaign that would encourage organ donation in Northern Ireland.