ICT:Streamlined care
Friday, July 9th, 2010Health care can be improved by taking paper out of the system, whether in records or referrals, according to Hugh Mullen. As the Health and Social Care Board’s outgoing Director of Performance Management and Service Improvement, Mullen updated delegates on how ICT is modernising and transforming health services at an agendaNi seminar in April. Health service management was a late adopter of ICT compared to other sectors, Mullen remarked, and the service was “still doing an awful lot with pieces of paper.” The global banking sector spends 6.9 per cent of its budget in ICT while...[full story]
ICT:Joined-up surgery
Friday, July 9th, 2010Delays or overruns in surgery can distress patients and hold up an expensive part of the Health Service. Karen O’Loan explained how the Theatre Management System is improving surgery at our ICT in health seminar. The Health Service’s Theatre Management System (TMS) is making surgery more streamlined, according to Karen O’Loan who has been leading the system’s implementation over the last two years. O’Loan is the Health and Social Care Board’s Assistant Director of Performance Management and Service Improvement and has worked in healthcare ICT since 1991. An Audit Office report...[full story]
Workplace well-being:Roundtable discussion
Friday, July 9th, 2010With the rise in mental health difficulties and stress problems in the workplace, HSENI brings together key professionals in occupational health to discuss how managers should respond. As well as its intrinsic benefit, improving staff well-being is good for customer service and will become increasingly important in the public sector as spending cuts add pressure to staff. Why is workplace mental health becoming increasingly important? Bryan In the traditional areas of health and safety, the logic of our involvement has evolv ed over the last eight to nine years from an emphasis on hard...[full story]
Workplace well-being:In practice
Friday, July 9th, 2010As part of its well-being report, agendaNi looks at workplace initiatives taken across the UK to protect employees’ mental health. Anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, self- harm and dementia are some of the mental health problems that can affect people at any time in their life, and which employers must increasingly be prepared to deal with. Stress is also a rising problem, and has the potential to develop into a more serious risk for employee and employer if it is ignored. The 2009 CIPD employee outlook survey, conducted by YouGov (which interviewed a sample of 2,000 people), showed...[full story]
North/South:Middletown purpose questioned
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010A major North/South project’s purpose has again been questioned, with claims that it will not properly meet the needs of children with autism. Lord Maginnis has said the cross-border Middletown centre on autism should be replaced by assessments by health visitors, followed up by local support services. Middletown has been hailed as a major example of all-island co-operation, having been jointly established by both governments in 2007. It currently trains staff working with autistic children, such as teachers and classroom assistants, and a residential block is due to be built to let...[full story]
Telecoms:Hi-tech care
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010Julie-Ann Augusto manages the telecare and telehealth services in the South Eastern Trust’s area, which covers Ards, Down, North Down and Lisburn districts. Both involve the remote monitoring of patients who are not at the same location as the care provider. The trust’s Nocturnal project provides telecare monitoring for at least 30 patients with dementia. This is funded by the Technology Strategy Board and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and follows on from the similar Netwell project in 2008-2009. Some Netwell clients have continued to be served by Nocturnal. In...[full story]
Infrastructure:Update
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010Two years into ISNI2, Northern Ireland’s residents are seeing the first fruits of its most extensive infrastructure programme, whether on the drive along the Westlink, waiting for treatment in the Downe Hospital or being taught in the redeveloped Grosvenor Grammar School, in east Belfast. While most projects in the three key areas we have selected have been completed or are on target, delays have also crept up e.g. at the Gransha mental health centre outside Derry or the Ballee Road East dual carriageway outside Ballymena. Fiscally, the Executive’s spending plans for 2010-2011 do...[full story]
Health:Primary care in practice
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010Bright, airy and colourful, the £16.5 million health and care centre in Portadown opened its doors on 29 March. With positive patient feedback reported in a Portadown Times vox-pop and GPs commenting on their contentment at their new working conditions, the Southern Health and Social Care Trust is pleased with the building and its facilities. The Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland has described primary care centres as being “responsive to people’s needs; providing greater access to a wider range of services (some previously only available at hospitals) delivered close to...[full story]
2010 manifestos:Healthy services
Friday, May 14th, 2010A focus on improving mental health services, targeting obesity and more efficient cancer treatments are shared priorities for the main parties. As health is a matter which is mostly devolved to the Assembly, there are few opportunities in Parliament for local MPs to have an impact on the province’s health policy. Medical ethics and the regulation of the health profession, though, are still decided nationally. DUP The DUP wants to see the “frontloading” of funding for the first few years of life “in order to give young people the best prospects.” They advocate increased investment...[full story]
