Dig for mental health

Gardening is being used as a tool to promote mental and emotional wellbeing through a new pilot project funded by the Public Health Agency (PHA). The project ‘Wellbeing with nature’ will run over two years and involve around 200 people from across Belfast. Participants will take part in an eight week course which uses gardening as a form of therapy for people with mental health issues including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Aneurysm screening programme success

The Northern Ireland Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Screening Programme has published its first annual report highlighting the programme success, with 81% of the men invited attending for a scan. The report has been produced by the Public Health Agency (PHA) and the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust on the programme, which is available across Northern Ireland.
This is the fifth annual report for the Northern Ireland Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Screening Programme since it was introduced in June 2012. It has been produced jointly by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and the Public Health Agency. As well as updates on the role of primary care and service users in helping with programme development and ongoing improvements this is the first year health inequalities data has featured in the report. Overall performance of the programme remained high (refer to Section 5 for more detail) with the following of note: • Almost 9,000 men in their 65th year were invited to attend for screening • Uptake was 84% of those invited attending for screening, up slightly from the previous year’s 83% • 830 men over 65 who had never been screened before self-referred to the programme and were screened • 107 men screened had a newly detected AAA • 24 men had a large aneurysm and were referred to the vascular team to consider treatment options

Switch off, step out and take your first steps to better health

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is encouraging everyone to switch off the telly, pull on your walking shoes and take the first steps to better health, after figures revealed that almost half of adults in Northern Ireland are sitting in front of the TV for more than two hours per day. Reduced activity, combined with a poor diet, can lead to becoming overweight or obese.

City Council joins Breastfeeding Welcome Here scheme

Belfast City Council has become the latest organisation to join the Public Health Agency’s Breastfeeding Welcome Here scheme, a Northern Ireland-wide programme to increase the number of premises which welcome breastfeeding mums. Belfast City Hall, along with 35 other council-run buildings, including community and leisure centres, have just signed up to the initiative, bringing the total number of popular local attractions, businesses and council facilities across Northern Ireland to 389.