jigsawnewsnorthern ireland june 2013

7/28/2019 JigsawNewsNorthern Ireland June 2013

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JIGSAWNEWSJune 2013 Issue 4

A Monthl Newsletter on Public Health for EHPs in Northern Ireland and Be ond

At the recent Chartered

Institute of

Environmental Health

Eastern Region Spring

Forum 80% of those

present admitted they

didnt know the name of

their Director of PublicHealth. Given the news

Janet Atherton Chair of

the Association Of

Directors of Public Health

said We like to chat and

generally dont bite unless

we have missed lunch!

Jigsaw Public Health

Forum on the Move

Tuesday June 4th will be a

busy day for the JigsawPSPH

Public Health Forum as it will

be moving house. Started in

December 2012 the forum has

been hosted on LinkedIn

where members have been

enjoying some lively debates.

The new home will be at

www.rhenvironmental.co.uk

where the forum will be combined

with the Jigsaw Blog and links to

the Im a Public Health

Professional Get Me Out of Here

podcast. Jigsaw co founder Pete Hill

is excited about the new start. Its

what we have been aiming at for

sometime keeping all the various

Jigsaw products in one place. Id

like to give a big vote of thanks to

everyone at RHEnvironmental for

making it happen. Now I cant wait

to get going.

Something in the Air!Both fine-particle air pollution and noise pollution may increase a

persons risk of developing cardiovascular disease according to

German researchers who have conducted a large population study in

which they considered both factors simultaneously. "Many studies

have looked at air pollution, while others have looked at noise

pollution," said study leader Barbara Hoffmann, MD, MPH, from the

IUF Leibniz Research Institute in Germany. "This study looked at

both at the same time and found that each form of pollution was

independently associated with subclinical atherosclerosis."

Nudge Nudge......not

Wimbledon is just around the corner so it

must mean more rains on the way, so to

keep you company under your umbrella

here is the latest Jigsaw News. This

month were delighted to be able to bring

you an interview with our colleague Jim

McManus DPH at Hertfordshire County

Council as well as the usual mix of stories.

One of the governments main policies

around Public Health is to nudge people

away from unhealthy behaviours so itsinteresting to see that this month there

seems to be a move back to enforcement

with bans proposed on chips and smoking

in cars. The Food Hygiene Rating System

has also hit the headlines thanks to

research by Which? The scheme should be

the perfect example of a mixture of both

approaches, the public being nudged away

from poor food businesses and EHPs

seeking compliance through the law. With

13% of the population not using the

internet its difficult to see why there is

still no requirement to prominently

display ratings. If we are serious about

nudging people in the right direction why

is making the healthy choice usually the

most difficult. Try eating healthily at a

sporting event! Perhaps its time we

started to incorporate nutrition into the

remit of EHPs and make it part of the

Food Hygiene Rating System.

Supermarkets are already looking at the

commercial opportunities of promotinghealthy eating so why are Local

Authorities so slow to act?

Pete & Sarah

Wider Role for HealthWatch

Last month Jigsaw met with Sarah

Wren Chair of HealthWatch

Hertfordshire to discuss the

importance of lower tier Local

Authority services and their

influence on the wider

determinants of health. Sarah

shared our concerns that resources

which underpin health

improvements are currently at risk

due to budget cuts.

Communication was another area

for improvement to ensure

messages flow in both directions

between the Health & Wellbeing

Board and officers on the front line.

Sarah fully supports the approach

which we have taken with Jigsaw

and hopes this can continue in the

future.
http://www.rhenvironmental.co.uk/http://www.rhenvironmental.co.uk/http://www.rhenvironmental.co.uk/http://www.rhenvironmental.co.uk/http://www.rhenvironmental.co.uk/


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Jigsaw on-line: Podcast - http://jigsawpsph.podomatic.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/JigsawPSPH

10% Of Health Budget Spent On Diabetes Treatment10% of Northern Ireland's health budget is estimated to be spenton managing diabetes and its complications, according toHealth Minister Edwin Poots. Mr Poots said projections estimatethe proportion could rise to 17% in just over two decades.The Minister was addressing delegates attending the launch ofDiabetes Week UK in the Long Gallery at Stormont."There are approximately 76,000 adults or 4% of the populationwith diabetes in Northern Ireland and some 1,000 children," he

said. Outlining the Department of Health's plans to address theincreasing number of people with diabetes in Northern Ireland,the Minister said: "My Department is finalising a new 10-yearPublic Health Strategic Framework, which will set the overallframework for action, across Government, to improve publichealth by addressing the causes of ill-health and healthinequalities.

Poor layout of communitiescontributing to obesity

The claim was made by healthexperts at a major conference atUniversity College Cork (UCC) whichheard that existing communitystructures are creating seriousmedical problems for people in later

life.According to the Institute of PublicHealth in Ireland, less than one inthree people currently meet theminimum weekly physical-activitylevels for a healthy body.The independent group whichjoined forces with other experts fromQueens University Belfast and theHRB Centre for Health and DietResearch at UCC said a keyreason for this is the way estates,villages, and towns are developed.Calling for a change in direction toaddress the health problem, it saiddoing nothing will simply result inobesity, heart and other physicalconditions continuing to rise.The low level of physical activityacross the island has manyimplications for public health.Recent studies suggest that by 2020there will be large increases in thenumber of people with obesity-relatedchronic conditions, said Dr Kevin

Balanda, Institute of Public HealthAssociate Director.We forecast that, by 2020, there willbe 366,000 people with hypertension,176,000 with diabetes, and 29,000with stroke.

Food safety body issues warning after'shocking' fall in standards

May was one of the worst ever months for seriousfood safety problems in restaurants, shops and

takeaways.Health inspectors took action against19 food businesses over hygiene and safetyproblems that could endanger public healthduring the month.The Food Safety Authority ofIreland (FSAI) warned businesses to clean uptheir act as warm summer weather greatlyincreases the risks of food poisoning. It was"shocking" that such a high number of foodbusinesses were not compliant with food law, saidFSAI director of service contracts Dr BernardHegarty."The risks for food-borne illness increaseas bacteria can multiply rapidly in the warmer

temperatures," he said.The 19 enforcement actions last month matchesthe previous highest monthly total recordedlast October. So far in 2013, some 61 foodbusinesses have received enforcement actions,compared with 109 in the whole of 2012, and thenumbers falling short of food safety standardshave risen dramatically over the last six years.

Children buzzing after Bee Safe eventLocal primary school children were given somepotentially lifesaving advice at the annual BeeSafe event which took place over a few weeksacross a number of council areas.The events are

organised through local Policing and CommunitySafety Partnerships (PCSP) working with LocalDistrict Councils Environmental HealthDepartments and local partners. Pupils whoattended the two day events across the provinceare now buzzing with knowledge on how to keepthemselves safe thanks to this multi-agencycommunity safety initiative which gave childrenthe chance to learn some key messages. Theevent aims to encourage ten and eleven yearolds to adopt good safety habits and to learnabout a wide range of safety issues in a fun andinteractive way.
http://jigsawpsph.podomatic.com/http://jigsawpsph.podomatic.com/http://jigsawpsph.podomatic.com/http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Food_Safety_Authority_of_Irelandhttp://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Food_Safety_Authority_of_Irelandhttp://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Food_Safety_Authority_of_Irelandhttp://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Food_Safety_Authority_of_Irelandhttps://twitter.com/JigsawPSPHhttps://twitter.com/JigsawPSPHhttp://jigsawpsph.podomatic.com/http://jigsawpsph.podomatic.com/


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[email protected]

JIGSAW WORLD

Jigsaw on-line: Daily News - http://paper.li/JigsawPSPH Blog - http://jigsawpsph.wordpress.com

Bexley in Kenthas the worst

food hygienein Britain

Daily Mirror

More Community Services Needed

A report by the Care Quality

Commission has called for more

investment in community services to

ease the burden on A&E Departments.

Current figures show the minimum

cost of a visit to A&E to be 76 with

over 21 million attendances each year

the cost to the NHS is approximately

1.6 billion. A figure that could bedrastically reduced by greater focus on

the wider determinants of health.

When The Chips Are Down

Councillors in Salford are looking to

use Planning regulations to ban take

aways near local schools from serving

hot food before 5pm. Margaret Morris

Deputy Mayor for Health said. "Public

health and helping to reduce obesity

levels are a top priority, and while planners

cannot control the food that is sold, we

would like every new premise to offer well

promoted healthy alternatives so peoplecan have an informed choice about the

food they eat.

Public Health OutcomesFramework Updates Now Out

Public Health England have issued a series of

updates to the Public Health outcomes

Framework. The documents which include a

progress report to March 2013 and Technical

Specifications of Public Health Indicators

provide statutory guidance for Local

Authorities exercising their Public Health

functions. You can download the documents

from: http://bit.ly/17UExtr

Housing Research Bulletin

A new information source for

Housing professionals was

launched last month. The

Housing Health International

Research Bulletin can be found

at:www.housinghealth.com

Its NICE to Have Standards

The National Institute for Health & Care

Excellence are to develop three new Public

Health Quality Standards. These will

provide a set of statements designed to

drive and measure improvements in health

care. NICE has had a Public Health remit

since 2005 before that time it dealt solely

with clinical matters. The new quality

standards will apply to both top and lower

tier Local Authorities and integrate withthe Public Health Outcomes Frameworks.

http://bit.ly/19oMd7Y

No Smoking, Children on Board

Scottish Liberal MSP Jim Hume wants to

introduce a private members bill which

would make it illegal to smoke in vehicles

when children are present. A survey has

found that eight out of 10 people north of

the border would support such a ban.

Thinking Outside The Box

Two studies have suggested innovative

ways of reducing crime and improving

wellbeing. In Pennsylvania vacant plotsof land were improved by planting grass

and trees and providing fences. The

changes led to reductions in gun crimes

and improvements in residents

perceptions of safety. Research has

shown that negative perceptions can

have a detrimental effect on health.

London Underground have

found that the playing of

classical music has been

effective in reducing levels of

crime and assaults on staff at

Elm Park Station on the

District Line. It could bring a

whole new meaning to the

phrase catching the Tuba!

Jigsaw on the Road

We have been invited to

facilitate an hour workshop

on Social Media at the

forthcomingCIEH Annual

Meetingon 13th June at

Chadwick House.

Unfortunately the event is

fully booked but you will be

able to follow events on

Twitter @JigsawPSPH.
http://bit.ly/19oMd7Yhttp://bit.ly/19oMd7Yhttp://www.housinghealth.com/http://www.housinghealth.com/http://bit.ly/17UExtrhttp://bit.ly/17UExtrhttp://jigsawpsph.wordpress.com/http://jigsawpsph.wordpress.com/http://paper.li/JigsawPSPHhttp://paper.li/JigsawPSPH


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The Back Page

JIGSAW NEWS

Editing and Design:

Pete Hill & Sarah James

Jigsaw Northern Ireland

Anthony McCloskey

JigsawNews is an independent

production all views expressed

are solely those of the editorial

team and do not represent those

of any other organisation.

Coopers Corner

I knew a

hypochondriac

who wouldnt visitthe Dead Sea until

he found out what

it died of!

Alberts Square

Ask StanleyStats

Want some statistics? Let the Jigsaw

Furby tell you all about it.

You can e-mail him:

[email protected]

Or follow on Twitter @ stanley stats1

Im a Public Health Professional

Get Me out of Here!

http://jigsawpsph.podomatic.com

JigsawPSPHs weekly Podcast

Featured on UK Health Radio

Download from the iTunes Store

Stanley Says: The number ofadults accessing the internet hasnow reached 84%, the percentageusing a smart phone is now 53%.Local Authorities are waking up to

Social Media with 54% now usingit at service level and only 30%blocking staff use. Two thirds ofLAs now believe that wise use ofSocial Media can save themmoney. The biggest increase inTwitter users in the past 12months has come in the 50-65age group.

Did You Know:a 20dB

increase in aircraft noise is

enough to delay a childs

reading age by 8 months

The Month on

Twitter

JigsawPSPH now working with

Delivering quality

services to a wide

range of businessesand Public Sector

bodies since 1999

http://www.rhenvironmental.co.uk

Did You Know: The cost of

noise pollution in Europe is

approximately 20 billion

Coming Next Month.............

We ask is the generic EHP anendangered species, take a look into the

world of privatisation and round up the

rest of the months Public Health news.

Dont forget if your colleagues havent

seen Jigsaw News why not get them on

our mailing [email protected]

Graham Burgess

@The_CIEH @JigsawPSPH

@foodgov @WhichUK

Sloppy food hygiene

standards should not be

tolerated. Neither should

reductions in EHOs. Crazy

BCC Env. Health

@JigsawPSPH @foodgov

Making it a legal req for

all businesses to display

their FHRS score would

make a huge diff to #food

safety

Dr Jeremy Leach

of course establishments

should display their FH

ratings, thereby

harnessing consumers.
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jigsawnewsnorthern ireland june 2013

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