IPH response to 'Towards a Childcare Strategy' (Northern Ireland)

The remit of the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) is to promote cooperation for public health between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the areas of research and information, capacity building and policy advice. Our approach is to support Departments of Health and their agencies in both jurisdictions, and maximise the benefits of all-island cooperation to achieve practical benefits for people in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Giving every child the best start in life is recognised by governments worldwide as the most effective way to improve life chances and health outcomes.  This is one of IPH’s key strategic action areas in our Business Plan and we endorse the need for early intervention, particularly in tackling health inequalities and improving the health and wellbeing of children in the most disadvantaged communities.  International evidence is increasingly pointing towards investment in the early years as a critical component of any sensible approach to improving population health and tackling health inequalities across the life course (WHO, 2008 and Marmot, 2010).  It is also apparent that Northern Ireland public policy is now reorienting towards achieving better and fairer outcomes in the early years, as demonstrated through the recent draft public health strategy (DHSSPS, 2012a) and the draft early years strategy (Department of Education, 2012).

IPH response to the HIQA consultation on the National Demographic Dataset and Guidance for use in health and social care settings in Ireland

The remit of the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) is to promote cooperation for public health between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the areas of research and information, capacity building and policy advice. Our approach is to support Departments of Health and their agencies in both jurisdictions, and maximise the benefits of all-island cooperation to achieve practical benefits for people in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. IPH have previously responded to consultations to the Department of Health’s Discussion Paper on the Proposed Health Information Bill (June 2008), the Health Information and Quality Authority on their Corporate Plan (Oct 2007), and the Road Safety Authority of Ireland Road Safety Strategy (Jul 2012). IPH supports the development of a national standard demographic dataset for use within the health and social care services. Provided necessary safeguards are put in place (such as ethics and data protection) and the purpose of collecting the information is fully explained to subjects, mandatory provision of a minimum demographic dataset is usually the best way to achieve the necessary coverage and data quality. Demographic information is needed in several forms to support the public health function: Detailed aggregated information for comparison to population counts in order to assess equity of access to healthcare as well as examining population patterns and trends in morbidity and mortality Accurate demographic information for the surveillance of infectious disease outbreaks, monitoring vaccination programmes, setting priorities for public health interventions Linked to other data outside of health and social care such as population data, survey data, and longitudinal studies for research and analysis purposes.   Identify and address public health issues to tackle health inequalities, and to monitor the success of such efforts to tackle them.

Institute of Public Health in Ireland's (IPH) Open Access Statement

This document states the Institute of Public Health in Ireland’s (IPH) commitment to an Open Access policy and outlines how it implements that policy. "Open Access is the immediate, online, free availability of research outputs without restrictions on use commonly imposed by publisher copyright agreements. Open Access includes the outputs that scholars normally give away for free for publication; it includes peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers and data of various kinds."1 The Open Access (OA) movement aims to: Provide access to scientific outputs in publications that are freely available Foster the adoption of open access publication models

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) - Letters and Urgent Communications

Chief Medical Officer - Letters and Urgent Communications

Northern Ireland Primary and Secondary Care Opioid Substitute Treatment Guidelines 2013 (PDF 4.5MB)

Drugs misuse

Promoting Good Nutrition

Guidance and resources to support the use of 'MUST' across all care settings

Promoting Good Nutrition (PDF 2MB)

Guidance and resources to support the use of 'MUST' across all care settings

Drug Alerts 2011 to 2012

PAS Alerts 2011 to 2012

Being an Approved Home Childcarer (PDF 162KB)

Guidance on Being an Approved Home Childcarer - a guide for home childcarers

Employing an Approved Home Childcarer (PDF 216KB)

Guidance on Employing an Approved Home Childcarer - a guide for parents

Data Protection Manual (MS Word 461KB)

Departmental Data Protection manual

Reserved Car Parking: Staff with a Disability/Long-Term Health Condition (PDF 412 KB)

Provides advice and guidance on obtaining reserved car parking where a member of staff has particular difficulty with normal parking arrangements because of their disability/long-term health condition. åÊAmended 2009