Professionals at the front line of delivering healthcare in Northern Ireland, including those working in dietetics, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, are at the heart of modernising services to meet today’s needs, a conference has heard.

The Public Health Agency’s (PHA) early flu vaccine uptake figures show that rates are high among the first two groups of children who are eligible to receive the vaccine this year. The programme has been rolled out since the start of the month, with the vaccine being administered to children using a painless nasal spray. Children aged two and three years old and primary six children are eligible to receive the vaccine this flu season.

An arts programme worth £1m was launched his week targeting an important government priority, the social exclusion of older people. Government Health, Minister Edwin Poots, MLA, lent his support to launch the Arts Council and Public Health Agency ’s Arts and Older People’s Programme (Wednesday October 16th ) which uses the arts to tackle the important issues of isolation, loneliness and poverty affecting many older people across Northern Ireland today.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is today launching a new resource pack designed to assist schools to deliver a healthy break scheme. All primary schools across Northern Ireland will receive a resource pack – ‘Healthy Breaks for Schools’ – which includes a poster for the schools to display and information leaflets for parents to explain why healthy breaks are so important, as well as suggestions for the types of foods and drinks that can be included in a healthy break.

Jon Darpón Sierra, Basque Government Minister for Health visited the TF3 Telemonitoring NI centre in Holywood to see first-hand the fantastic support being offered to people who live with long-term conditions across Northern Ireland. The visit was part of a programme of activities which have been organised to showcase Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland to a delegation from the Basque Government.