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International conference on health promoting hospitals
Empowering
for health: practicing the principles, is the
theme of the 13th international conference on health promoting
hospitals, which begins in Dublin today. The World Health
Organization, the two cross-border networks of Health Promoting
Hospitals (HPH) and the Health Promotion Agency for Northern
Ireland (HPA) are among the organisers of the event, which
will focus on how to empower hospital staff and patients
to better manage their health.
In recent years much progress has been made in addressing
health improvement in the hospital setting by looking at
the broader cultural, social and environmental issues which
can support health and wellbeing. This conference will focus
on ways that hospitals can improve health for staff and patients,
particularly those patients who are the most vulnerable such
as older people, those from ethnic communities and people
with mental health problems.
Dr Brian Gaffney, Chief Executive of the
HPA said: “The
hospital environment is a major component of our health service
and a vital setting in which the health of staff, patients
and the wider community can be promoted. As workplaces
and major employers, hospitals are ideally placed to take
the lead in becoming healthy organisations that influence
the working conditions of their staff. The HPA continues
to work with hospitals across Northern Ireland to assist
them in recognising their potential as key drivers for health
improvement.”
Dr Naresh Chada, Senior Medical Officer at
the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety,
who will be
chairing a Northern Ireland steering group to develop health
promotion within the hospital setting, said: “The Health
Promoting Hospital concept recognises that a hospital is
much more than a place where people go for treatment and
cure from sickness. It recognises the huge opportunities
for the promotion of good health among the many thousands
of people, patients and staff who have daily contact with
hospitals and also with the wider community which the hospitals
serve. As Chair of the recently formed Northern Ireland Health
Promoting Hospitals Steering Group I hope to learn from the
conference on how we can further promote the Health
Promoting Hospital concept in Northern Ireland."
Empowering
for health is the largest health promoting hospitals
conference to date, with over 600 delegates from 40 countries.
The conference will be held in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin
from 18-20 May. Further information is available on the conference
website: www.univie.ac.at/hph/dublin2005.
END
For
further information contact
Rosie McGaughey at the HPA Press Office on 028 9031 1611.
Email: r.mcgaughey@hpani.org.uk.
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