Active Travel - Healthy Lives

Across Ireland, there is considerable scope to replace many short car journeys with walking and cycling which would bring about a range of benefits to health as well as saving money for individuals and society.'Active travel, healthy lives' presents a summary of international evidence on the health and economic benefits of active travel and makes recommendations on how active travel can become a viable, safe and attractive alternative to car use.

IPH response to DHSSPS Consultation on a ten year breastfeeding strategy for Northern Ireland 2012-2022

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety invited submissions on the development of a new ten-year Breastfeeding Strategy for Northern Ireland 2012-2022 between May and September 2012. The draft Breastfeeding Strategy 2012 – 2022 proposes further action in relation to breastfeeding and aims to protect, promote, support and normalise breastfeeding within the population of Northern Ireland. Key points from IPH response IPH welcomes the commitment by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to develop a comprehensive long-term strategy to support women in Northern Ireland to breastfeed. The timeframe provides scope for developing clear long-term targets and actions and the embedding of breastfeeding culture into allied services, policies and programmes throughout Northern Ireland. The draft strategy’s recognition of the potential of breastfeeding as a means for tackling health inequalities forms a central theme of the IPH submission IPH welcomes the success achieved to date in improving breastfeeding. However, it is clear that the overall breastfeeding rate in Northern Ireland still lags behind the rest of the UK. Inequalities in breastfeeding rates remain an ongoing concern. IPH emphasises the importance of integrating the actions of the breastfeeding strategy with the strategic direction of overall public health policy in particular the forthcoming Fit and Well policy framework and early years strategies. IPH welcomes the inclusion of stipulations regarding weaning practices as an important component of the vision and one which, if achieved, will maximize the benefits from improving breastfeeding rates and duration.

IPH response to EU Commission consultation on EU role in global health

The European Commission launced a public consultation iin October 2009 on stakeholder views regarding the rationale, scope and strategic objectives for an EU role in global health. The Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) aims to improve health on the island of Ireland by working to combat health inequalities and influence public policies in favour of health.  The Institute promotes cooperation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in public health research, training and policy advice. IPH also contributes to a number of European networks and projects and is a member of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI). IPH welcomes the opportunity to respond to the European Commission consultation on the role of the EU in global health.

A Nursing Vision of Public Health

This statement represents one outcome of a series of workshops, in Newry, attended by senior nurses from the North and South of Ireland. Our nursing vision of public health emerged through lively debate and creative discussion until broad consensus has now been reached on the definition scope, principles and activities of public health for nurses in Ireland Download the Report here

Core Functions of the Health Service Report

The Government Decision1 on the Structural, Organisational, Financial Management and Systems Reform of the Health Sector of June, 2003 acknowledged that in order to increase the effectiveness of the health service generally, and its capacity to deliver the reform agenda, it was important that the service was fully concentrated on addressing its core health objectives. The Minister for Health and Children and Minister for Finance felt that there could be scope to transfer certain functions out of the health service and locate them more appropriately within other functional areas of Government. As part of the overall decision, it was agreed that a working group would be established, to include the Departments of Health and Children, Finance and An Taoiseach, to examine the scope for transfer of certain activities to other, more appropriate, Departments and agencies and that on completion of this review, the Minister for Health and Children would bring proposals to Government. Read the Report (PDF, 70kb)  

Working Together To Reduce The Harms Caused By Alcohol Misuse: Report of the Working Group on Alcohol Misuse

The overall aim of the National Alcohol Policy, launched in 1996, is to reduce the level of alcohol-related problems and to promote moderation for those who wish to drink. This report complements the work of the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol (STFA) which takes primarily a public health approach as outlined in paragraph 1.1 of the Second Report of the STFA which states that â?othis approach, endorsed by the WHO, recognises that alcohol contributes to a range of health, social and behavioural problems- in terms of its toxicity, its potential to create dependency and its negative impact on human behaviour. The overall level of alcohol consumption and the predominant pattern of drinking in the population, are predictive of alcohol problems in any given society. Therefore, alcohol policy must take into account the total drinking population when defining the scope of public health action as well targeting high risk groups and individual high risk drinkers.â?Âù Download the Report (PDF, 202kb)

National Rare Disease Plan for Ireland 2014-2018

  This is a generic policy framework for rare diseases. Its scope is broad and it applies to all rare diseases, which can number up to 8,000 diseases affecting millions of EU citizens. This policy framework envisages a combined approach with our EU partners and Northern Ireland to diagnose and treat people with rare diseases. We must deepen links with facilities and institutions in other countries where specialist services are available that may be absent in Ireland. The plan elaborates on Ireland’s participation in European Reference Networks, which is the networking of knowledge and expertise through reference centres and teams of experts. These links are emphasized in the report to address the care of patients with rare diseases at both national and European levels. Download the report here

National Rare Disease Plan for Ireland 2014-2018

National Rare Disease Plan for Ireland 2014-2018 This is a generic policy framework for rare diseases. Its scope is broad and it applies to all rare diseases, which can number up to 8,000 diseases affecting millions of EU citizens. This policy framework envisages a combined approach with our EU partners and Northern Ireland to diagnose and treat people with rare diseases. We must deepen links with facilities and institutions in other countries where specialist services are available that may be absent in Ireland. The plan elaborates on Irelandâ?Ts participation in European Reference Networks, which is the networking of knowledge and expertise through reference centres and teams of experts. These links are emphasized in the report to address the care of patients with rare diseases at both national and European levels. Download the report here  

Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer: Third Annual Report

The third annual Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer report, in partnership with NHS England and Public Health England, reports on: significant developments in cancer screening - particularly on the first phase of introducing Bowel Scope Screening (BSS) activity to promote earlier diagnosis of symptomatic cancers through the Be Clear on Cancer campaigns and the associated work with primary and secondary care progress in ensuring better access for all to the best possible treatment significant developments in the collection and reporting of new datasets and the analysis of information to drive improvements and inform patients

Losing Track of Time: Dementia and the ageing prison population

Dementia and the ageing prison population: treatment challenges and examples of good practice.The aims of this report are to scope existing research on treating and managing male offenders with cognitive impairment to identify and share examples of good practice employed by a handful of prisons around the globe.Read full report here (pdf).��

Inequities in cardiac services: a scoping review

This scoping review has been commissioned by the Policy Research Programme and briefly outlines the scope and quality of relevant literature relating to: 1) The investigation of inequalities in access to cardiac services in the U.K. since 1995; and 2) The effectiveness of interventions in the U.K. since 1995 to reduce inequalities in access to cardiac services

Education Strategy for the Children Detention School Service September 2010-2013

Scope The Education Strategy for the Children Detention School Service September 2010-2013 has been operating in draft form from 2008 and has evolved to the document it is now. It constitutes the Department of Education and Skills’ (DES) overarching strategy on educational services for children placed in children detention schools and provides an outline of the Department’s role in this sector and provides the broad parameters which inform educational provision in the education facilities attached to these detention schools. Background In December 2005, following a review carried out by the Department of Justice and Law Reform, the Government approved a programme of Youth Justice reforms specifically designed to restructure the youth justice service in Ireland into a more modern and streamlined service.

Brain Health and Dementia Prevention in Ireland - a discussion paper

Joint discussion paper funded by the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and authored by the Institute of Public Health Approximately 47,849 people were living with dementia in Ireland in 2011. This number is expected to double by 2031 to about 90,000 as incident rates of dementia are set to rise with population ageing (Pierce et. al. 2014). Although much remains to be established at a causal level, epidemiological research indicates that there is scope for reducing dementia prevalence and age-specific incidence through addressing modifiable risk factors. There is a growing consensus for the mobilisation of public health approaches to attempt to reduce the prevalence of dementia through primary prevention. This discussion paper presents a rapid review of evidence on the primary prevention of dementia and presents estimates for the number of dementia cases that could potentially be preventable through modifying specific risk factors in Ireland. The paper focuses only on primary prevention which relates to delaying or preventing the onset of dementia. Specifically, the discussion paper presents: a rapid review of the current evidence-base on dementia prevention internationally estimates of the number of dementia cases that might be prevented by addressing modifiable risk factors considerations for integrating a brain health and dementia prevention perspective into public health research, policy and practice in Ireland.