Health Impact Assessment Collating information tool

The collating information tool provides a framework for all information gathered as part of the HIA process to be collated.

Health Impact Review - Sources of information reports

To support each of the IPH series of Health Impact Reviews, a sources of information report is now avalable for each of the four reports. These provide links to organisations who have conducted a wealth of information related to health and either employment, transport, education or the built environment.

Disseny i desenvolupament d'un sistema de gestió de les comunitats de veïns

Les comunitats de veïns i els seus problemes han evolucionat molt el darrer segle; la impossibilitat de trobar un horari de reunió comú compatible, la falta de temps per a realitzar tasques administratives o la desinformació en l’àmbit jurídic en són exemples. Aquest projecte presenta una solució adaptada a aquestes necessitats basada en una eina TIC de gestió de comunitats que estalviarà temps i diners a veïns i professionals, posant a l’abast la informació i els diferents recursos relatius a la gestió de la comunitat en qualsevol lloc i moment, automatitzant part del procés administratiu dels gestors de comunitats

Dynamic visual information plays a critical role for spatial navigation in water but not on solid ground.

In the Morris water maze (MWM) task, proprioceptive information is likely to have a poor accuracy due to movement inertia. Hence, in this condition, dynamic visual information providing information on linear and angular acceleration would play a critical role in spatial navigation. To investigate this assumption we compared rat's spatial performance in the MWM and in the homing hole board (HB) tasks using a 1.5 Hz stroboscopic illumination. In the MWM, rats trained in the stroboscopic condition needed more time than those trained in a continuous light condition to reach the hidden platform. They expressed also little accuracy during the probe trial. In the HB task, in contrast, place learning remained unaffected by the stroboscopic light condition. The deficit in the MWM was thus complete, affecting both escape latency and discrimination of the reinforced area, and was thus task specific. This dissociation confirms that dynamic visual information is crucial to spatial navigation in the MWM whereas spatial navigation on solid ground is mediated by a multisensory integration, and thus less dependent on visual information.

Response to the discussion paper on proposed Health Information Bill

The Institute of Public Health in Ireland is an all-island body which aims to improve health in Ireland by working to combat health inequalities and influence public policies in favour of health. The Institute promotes North-South co-operation in research, training, information and policy. The Institute commends the Department of Health and Children for producing the Discussion Paper on Proposed Health Information Bill (June 2008) and welcomes the opportunity to comment on it. The first objective of the Health Information: A National Strategy (2004) is to support the implementation of Quality and Fairness: A Health System for You (2001).The National Health Goals - such as ‘Better health for everyone’, ‘Fair access’ and ‘Responsive and appropriate care delivery’ - are expressed in terms of the health of the public as well as patients. The Discussion Paper focuses on personal information, and the data flows within the health system, that are needed to enhance medical care and maximise patient safety. The Institute believes that the Health Information Bill should also aim to more fully support the achievement of the National Health Goals and the public health function. This requires the development of more integrated information systems that link the healthcare sector and other sectors. Assessment of health services performance - in terms of the public’s health, health inequalities and achievement of the National Health Goals - require such information systems. They will enable the construction of public health key performance indicators for the healthcare services.

Response to the Health Information and Quality Authority on their Corporate Plan

The Institute of Public Health in Ireland is an all-island body which aims to improve health in Ireland, by working to combat health inequalities and influence public policies in favour of health. The Institute promotes co-operation in research, training, information and policy in order to contribute to policies which tackle inequalities in health. He Institute houses the all-Ireland population health observatory, INIsPHO. The Institute has enjoyed good working relations with HIQA and welcomes the opportunity to submit its views for inclusion in HIQA’s forthcoming Corporate Plan. Our response highlights the inter-relatedness of the four Functions of HIQA. The Institute believes that HIQA’s first Corporate Plan should aim to develop all four Functions in a co-ordinated manner that recognizes and takes advantage of their inter-dependence. For example; the Health Information Function should include a strong focus on, but not be limited to, information requirements to support the delivery of the other three Functions. As well as gathering relevant information in a complementary way, these other Functions can help define priorities for the Health Information Function. This approach will have implications for the organizational structures and processes within HIQA, and the way it conducts its business.

Ambulatory healthcare information system: a conceptual framework

Despite the tremendous amount of data collected in the field of ambulatory care, political authorities still lack synthetic indicators to provide them with a global view of health services utilization and costs related to various types of diseases. Moreover, public health indicators fail to provide useful information for physicians' accountability purposes. The approach is based on the Swiss context, which is characterized by the greatest frequency of medical visits in Europe, the highest rate of growth for care expenditure, poor public information but a lot of structured data (new fee system introduced in 2004). The proposed conceptual framework is universal and based on descriptors of six entities: general population, people with poor health, patients, services, resources and effects. We show that most conceptual shortcomings can be overcome and that the proposed indicators can be achieved without threatening privacy protection, using modern cryptographic techniques. Twelve indicators are suggested for the surveillance of the ambulatory care system, almost all based on routinely available data: morbidity, accessibility, relevancy, adequacy, productivity, efficacy (from the points of view of the population, people with poor health, and patients), effectiveness, efficiency, health services coverage and financing. The additional costs of this surveillance system should not exceed Euro 2 million per year (Euro 0.3 per capita).

Strategie für eine Informationsgesellschaft in der Schweiz : eine zehnjährige Politik im Lichte empirischer Analyse

Im Februar 1998 schuf der Bundesrat mit der Strategie für eine Informationsgesellschaft in der Schweiz die Grundlage für eine heute noch aktuelle Politik. Diese wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit einer empirischen, quellenbasierten Analyse unterzogen. Hierbei wird gefragt, welches Bild einer realen, möglichen oder künftigen Informationsgesellschaft den untersuchten Texten zugrundeliegt und wie es sich während der Umsetzung der Strategie im Laufe von zehn Jahren verändert hat. Als Vergleichsmassstab dient das entsprechende Programm der UNO, das auf dem World Summit on the Information Society 2003 und 2005 formuliert wurde. In einer Detailanalyse wird darüber hinaus beschrieben, wie sich die Strategie für eine Informationsgesellschaft auf die Arbeit in Schweizer Archiven und Bibliotheken ausgewirkt hat. Insgesamt entsteht das Bild einer in Zielen und Inhalten erstaunlich variablen und wirtschaftsorientierten Politik. En adoptant la Stratégie pour une société de l'information en Suisse, en février 1998, le Conseil fédéral a jeté les bases d'une politique qui a gardé toute son actualité. Dans le présent travail, celle-ci fait l'objet d'une analyse empirique, basée sur les sources. On y cherche à savoir sur quelle vision d'une société d'information réelle, possible ou future reposent les textes étudiés, et de quelle manière cette image s'est modifiée sur une période de dix ans de mise en oeuvre de la stratégie. Le programme de même type de l'ONU, élaboré en 2003 et 2005 lors du World Summit on the Information Society, fait office de base de comparaison. Une analyse détaillée décrit par ailleurs quels effets la Stratégie pour une société de l'information a eus sur le travail des archives et bibliothèques suisses. Il en résulte un tableau d'ensemble d'une politique étonnamment diversifiée et proche de la réalité économique, tant sur le plan des objectifs que du contenu.

Code of Practice on Confidentiality of Patient Information (PDF 108 KB)

Code of Practice on Confidentiality of Patient Information