Dr. Stephanie O'Keeffe:

A whole-of-government approach will give us a real opportunity to address a range of modifiable risk factors that have given rise to an increased prevalence of chronic diseases and an increase that we are set to see if we do not do something about them and provide a joined-up Government approach. I am pleased to be working with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Department of Health on developing a physical activity plan, examining what we are doing to increase physical activity, accelerating some of that work and injecting a scale and pace in the programme.
The reform programme provides a real opportunity to examine the creation of these new divisions with a view to trying to imbed preventive care in the work of the health service and ensuring that every contact counts. In that context, we will review community nursing services and dietetic services this year. We will do so in order to see what kind of capability is available to address these issues, specifically for children but not just children. One can see from the data published in the Growing Up in Ireland report that 26% of nine-year olds are overweight and-or obese and according to the new TILDA study, two out of three adults over the age of 50 show increasing levels of obesity.
As regards children, this year we will provide training to 2,000 GPs on the new ICGP weight management treatment algorithm. We will also role out a new pilot scheme of school-based growth monitoring sites. If the pilot scheme works then we will role it out nationally.
The work of the clinical strategy and programmes has provided a real opportunity to imbed preventive care and early detection into a range of clinical programmes comprising vascular diseases, COPD and asthma. The initiative would have a real impact.
Members may have noticed that the HSE has joined the Department of Health and safefood in a communications campaign to inform parents about the correct portion sizes for children. The campaign will also focus on sleep, physical activity and the consumption of fizzy and sugar sweetened drinks. A lot of information materials and online supports are available. So far the campaign has proved successful in terms of recognition levels and demand for materials.
There is a broad cross-sectoral element to the HSE's work, particularly through health promotion and improvement. We work with sports partnerships, schools and a range of externally funded agencies to try to address physical activity, diet and nutrition across key target groups. One can see that the health and well-being division's service plan lists a range of actions that aim to tighten our performance indicators so that we are in a better position to quantify activity and outcomes from initiatives. The data is very important and will allow us to build a larger prevention budget over time.