Value for Money and Policy Review of Disability Services in Ireland

This Review is an evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of the HSE-funded statutory and non-statutory disability services in Ireland. It was conducted by the Department of Health and the HSE under the auspices of the Governmentâ?Ts programme of Value for Money Reviews for 2009-2011. It makes a range of recommendations about how these services should be structured. www.dohc.ie/press/releases/2012/20120720.html Click here to download PDF 3.7mb Value for Money and Policy Review of the Disability Services Programme – Recommendation PDF 205kb Value for Money and Policy Review of the Disability Services Programme – Questions & Answers PDF 44kb Value for Money and Policy Review of the Disability Services Programme – Questions & Answers PDF 151kb  

Value for Money and Policy Review of Disability Services in Ireland - National Implementation Framework

The National Implementation Framework describes how the recommendations from the Value for Money (VFM) and Policy Review of the Disability Services Programme will be translated into concrete actions. It assigns responsibilities for those actions, and specifies timelines for their completion. It also identifies priorities and key performance indicators. The Framework describes how these reforms can be achieved in a planned, timely and cost effective manner. Click here to download (PDF 876KB)

Report for Minister Reilly on Beechpark Autism Services & related Service Issues for children with ASD in Dublin North

Report for Minister Reilly on Beechpark Autism Services & related Service Issues for children with ASD in Dublin North Report for Minister Reilly on Beechpark Autism Services & related Service Issues for children with ASD in Dublin North Click here to download PDF 2MB

Value for Money and Policy Review of the Economic Cost and Charges Associated with Private and Semi-Private Treatment Services in Public Hospitals - Final Report

This Value for Money and Policy Review (VFM&PR) of the Economic Cost and Charges Associated with Private and Semi-Private Treatment Services in Public Hospitals was initiated by the Department of Health and Children in June 2009 and was conducted under the auspices of the Governmentâ?Ts Value for Money & Policy Review Initiative 2009-2011. The Review was overseen by an independently chaired National Steering Group comprised of senior representatives from the Department of Health and Children, the Department of Finance, and the Health Service Executive (HSE). Download document here Download Explanatory Note  

Value for Money and Policy Review of the Economic Cost and Charges Associated with Private and Semi-Private Treatment Services in Public Hospitals - Interim Report

This report sets out a revised costing methodology and an estimate of the gap which currently exists between private and semi-private bed charges and the average economic cost. While the Steering Group considers the costing methodology proposed as an improvement on the approach taken in previous years and a good overall approximation of the difference on average between economic costs and current charges, it recognises that the current charging regime does not take sufficient account of the variation between different categories of patient. Download document here Note to Readers

Value for Money & Policy Review: Allocation & Utilisation of Funding in Acute Services in the Southern Hospitals Group in 2006 - Final ReportRelated Documents

This report is a Value for Money (VFM) evaluation, conducted by the National Hospitals Office (NHO) of the Health Service Executive (HSE) on the allocation and utilisation of funding for expenditure in the Southern Hospitals Group (SHG) in 2006. The SHG consists of nine hospitals in the HSE South region. The 2006 expenditure for the SHG covered by the evaluation was 590.1 million. Performance trends were studied over the period 2004 to 2006. Download document here Value for Money & Policy Review of Allocation & Utilisation of Funding in Acute Services in the Southern Hospitals Group (in 2006) – Department of Health and Children Response & Implementation Plan

Analysis of need in relation to 'one stop shop' services for young people in Northern Ireland

An analysis of need for 'one stop shop'; drop-in support services in relation to alcohol and drug misuse, undertaken by the PHA for the Health Development Policy Branch of the DHSSPS.

Establishing a whole school food policy

This guide has been written to help your school develop, write and implement a whole school food policy. It is designed to be easy to follow and based firmly in the context of real school life. This resource was originally developed and produced by the Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland as part of the School food: top marks programme and is now the responsibility of the Public Health Agency. It was jointly funded by the Department of Education and the Department of Heath, Social Services and Public Safety.

Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services network in Northern Ireland - Update report 2008-2009

The third annual report from the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Healthy Promoting Hospitals (HPH) and Healthy Services network highlights a rich selection of the innovative developments and team-working achievements across services in Northern Ireland. The report provides a platform to showcase the five Health and Social Care Trusts and Cooperation and Working Together (CAWT)’s commitment to health and wellbeing to the population and shows how hospitals can have an impact on the determinants of health as they are explained in the context of people’s daily lives. The Public Health Agency continues to support the network both locally and nationally as this report gives hospitals and other health services a chance to be recognised as health enhancing organisations. The HPH and Healthy Services concept recognises that a hospital is much more than a place where people go for treatment and cure from sickness. It identifies the huge opportunities for the promotion of good health among the many thousands of people, patients and staff who have daily contact with hospitals and also with the wider community which the hospitals serve. In recent years much progress has been made in addressing health improvement in the hospital setting by looking at the broader cultural, social and environmental issues which can support health and wellbeing. The Northern Ireland HPH network continues to embrace change across services and to drive action to ensure that health improvement is embedded in the new health and social care systems.

ARCHITECTING USER-CENTRIC PRIVACY-AS-A-SET-OF-SERVICES: DIGITAL IDENTITY RELATED PRIVACY FRAMEWORK

AbstractDigitalization gives to the Internet the power by allowing several virtual representations of reality, including that of identity. We leave an increasingly digital footprint in cyberspace and this situation puts our identity at high risks. Privacy is a right and fundamental social value that could play a key role as a medium to secure digital identities. Identity functionality is increasingly delivered as sets of services, rather than monolithic applications. So, an identity layer in which identity and privacy management services are loosely coupled, publicly hosted and available to on-demand calls could be more realistic and an acceptable situation. Identity and privacy should be interoperable and distributed through the adoption of service-orientation and implementation based on open standards (technical interoperability). Ihe objective of this project is to provide a way to implement interoperable user-centric digital identity-related privacy to respond to the need of distributed nature of federated identity systems. It is recognized that technical initiatives, emerging standards and protocols are not enough to guarantee resolution for the concerns surrounding a multi-facets and complex issue of identity and privacy. For this reason they should be apprehended within a global perspective through an integrated and a multidisciplinary approach. The approach dictates that privacy law, policies, regulations and technologies are to be crafted together from the start, rather than attaching it to digital identity after the fact. Thus, we draw Digital Identity-Related Privacy (DigldeRP) requirements from global, domestic and business-specific privacy policies. The requirements take shape of business interoperability. We suggest a layered implementation framework (DigldeRP framework) in accordance to model-driven architecture (MDA) approach that would help organizations' security team to turn business interoperability into technical interoperability in the form of a set of services that could accommodate Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Privacy-as-a-set-of- services (PaaSS) system. DigldeRP Framework will serve as a basis for vital understanding between business management and technical managers on digital identity related privacy initiatives. The layered DigldeRP framework presents five practical layers as an ordered sequence as a basis of DigldeRP project roadmap, however, in practice, there is an iterative process to assure that each layer supports effectively and enforces requirements of the adjacent ones. Each layer is composed by a set of blocks, which determine a roadmap that security team could follow to successfully implement PaaSS. Several blocks' descriptions are based on OMG SoaML modeling language and BPMN processes description. We identified, designed and implemented seven services that form PaaSS and described their consumption. PaaSS Java QEE project), WSDL, and XSD codes are given and explained.

PHA - improving cardiovascular services

?The Public Health Agency has identified ways of delivering cardiovascular services that will help to tackle health inequalities. These are described in a new "health impact assessment" report, launched on 1 June at the Maureen Sheehan Centre, Belfast.The PHA, in partnership with a wide variety of community, voluntary and statutory bodies, leads the work to improve cardiovascular health and wellbeing, through better prevention and treatment services, delivered through a 'cardiovascular service framework'. The result of a wide consultation, this new report will help to improve the way those services are delivered by focusing on the needs of disadvantaged people.Explaining the importance of this work, Dr Adrian Mairs, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, PHA, said: "The Public Health Agency was set up to tackle health inequalities and promote better health and wellbeing across Northern Ireland. Despite many improvements in prevention and treatment, cardiovascular diseases remain the main cause of death in Northern Ireland. We know that these diseases, including heart disease, stroke, circulation problems, diabetes and renal disease have a greater and more severe impact on people living in poverty. "This work will help us to reduce the health inequalities that exist in our society by improving the way cardiovascular services are developed and delivered, eg ensuring stop smoking services meet local needs, identifying and treating high blood pressure, and helping people to take their medicines properly."The health impact assessment has been developed from other work, including a literature review, cardiovascular health and wellbeing profile, and full technical report. All of these resources are available on the PHA website, under 'Directorates', 'Service Development and Screening'. The work will also be used to help the development of service frameworks covering other disease areas. Putting a health inequalities focus on Northern Ireland cardiovascular service framework - Summary report: www.publichealth.hscni.net/publications/putting-health-inequalities-focu... health and wellbeing profile for Northern Ireland: www.publichealth.hscni.net/publications/cardiovascular-health-and-wellbe... health and wellbeing in Northern Ireland - Literature review: www.publichealth.hscni.net/publications/cardiovascular-health-and-wellbe... focus (newsletter): www.publichealth.hscni.net/publications/hia-focus

Obesity - an acknowledged public health challenge

As we face a difficult economic climate, in which inequalities may worsen, the PHA faces many challenges in its efforts to improve the health of the population. One such challenge is the issue of obesity. Recently, in the Draft Programme for Government and, again today, in anticipation of the publication of the Consultation on the Review of Health and Social Care Services in Northern Ireland, the specific issue of obesity has been highlighted in the media.The PHA is committed to playing a lead role in tackling this major health issue and has been systematically examining the evidence of best practice and effectiveness to ensure that investment and working in partnership will bring clear benefits. A welcome consequence of any success would be a reduction in the impact of the physical, and emotional costs of obesity related ill-health to individuals - and the financial costs to an overstretched healthcare system.A multi-facetted approach to tackling obesity is required for Northern Ireland. This will mean working across government departments, looking at relevant legislation, taxation, food standards and labelling, as well as supporting a raft of programmes within education, workplace, and at the local community level."The prevalence of overweight and obesity has risen dramatically in recent years in Northern Ireland and is now the norm to be overweight, rather than the exception. The Northern Ireland Health and Social Wellbeing Survey (2010-11) indicated that 36% of adults are overweight and a further 23% are obese; this means that approximately 3 in 5 adults in Northern Ireland carry excess weight. A similar proportion of males and females were obese (23%) however males were more likely to be overweight (44%) than females (30%).Data from the Northern Ireland Health and Wellbeing Survey (2010-11) reported that 27% of children aged 2-15 years are obese or overweight. The findings presented here are based on the guidelines put forward by the International Obesity Task Force. Using this approach, 8% of children were assessed as obese, with similar results for boys (8%) and girls (9%). Obesity has serious implications for health and wellbeing and is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, respiratory problems and joint pain.Evidence indicates that being obese can reduce life expectancy by up to 9 years; and it can impact on emotional and psychological well-being and self-esteem, especially among young people.Obesity also impacts on wider society through economic costs, loss of productivity and increased demands on our health and social care system. It is estimated that obesity in Northern Ireland is resulting in 260,000 working days lost each year with a cost to the local economy of £500 million.The good news is that the intentional loss of significant weight (approx 10kg) in overweight and obese adults has been shown to confer significant health benefits, decreased morbidity and may also reduce obesity-related mortality.Key programmes and interventions are undertaken by the PHA in order to prevent and reduce overweight and obesity. The programmes/interventions are supported by significant ongoing work at local level. Examples include:the promotion of breastfeeding; local programmes to increase awareness of good nutrition and develop cooking skills, for example 'Cook It!'; promotion of more active lifestyles, for example, Walking for Health' and 'Teenage Kicks'; development of community allotment schemes; programmes for primary school children, for example Skip2bfit and Eat, Taste and Grow; and sports and other recreation, for example 'Active Belfast'. The PHA's multi media campaign 'It all adds up!' to encourage children to become more active and understand the importance of keeping fit, in a fun and exciting way, ran until October 2011. It encouraged parents and carers to go to the website www.getalifegetactive.com and download the PHA logbook It all adds up! to plan activities as a family. The logbook helped children and parents plan and keep track of their participation in physical activity at school, home and in the community. PHA is currently developing a public information campaign and other supportive work to increase public awareness of obesity as well as to provide advice and support for those who want to make real changes. The campaign development is well underway and is anticipated for launch in late Spring 2012. Like many common health problems, people living in disadvantaged circumstances suffer most and the PHA is committed to tackling this aspect of health inequality. The good news is that even a modest weight loss, of 1-1 Â_ stones, can help to reduce the risk of many of the health problems resulting from being overweight or obese. Information on losing weight through healthier eating and being more active can be found on the PHA websites - www.enjoyhealthyeating.info and www.getalifegetactive.com . These websites provide help and advice for anyone who wants to improve their eating habits and fitness levels, by making small, sustainable, healthy changes to their lifestyle. The PHA leaflet, Small changes, big benefits is also available to download from the PHA website, 'Publications' section.

Cook it! Fun, fast food for less: community nutrition education programme

This training manual was produced to support the Cook it! programme, which was specially developed for use in Northern Ireland. The Cook it! programme is delivered in the community by trained facilitators and can be used with a wide range of groups, including young/single parents, young people leaving residential care, offenders during rehabilitation programmes, older people in sheltered accomodation etc.The manual contains all the information needed to deliver Cook it! programmes in the community, including background information on healthy eating, information about dealing with special dietary requirements, sessions outlines, photocopiable resources and 75 recipes for snacks and meals.This updated version replaces the March 2007 edition.For information on training as a Cook it! facilitator, contact the health promotion service in your local Health and Social Care Trust.