Eastern Health and Social Care Trust

In Northern Ireland, 16,000 people have a diagnosis of dementia. (Dementia UK Report. 2007).

The Eastern Health and Social Services Board (EHSSB) is Northern Ireland’s largest Board - including Ards, Belfast, Castlereagh, Down, Lisburn andNorth Down District councils, and has responsibility for the care of approximately 665,000 people who live within its area.

The population in the EHSSB is ageing. Almost 20% of the population is over 60. This pattern is similar to what is happening elsewhere in the Western world. The ageing population is a direct result of improved social, economic and living conditions as well as improvements in health and social care. The population in the EHSSB is expected to grow rapidly by the year 2010, particularly in the age groups 80 - and over.

The graph above illustrates the age structure of the population over 60 in the EHSSB area and the six District Councils. In total, the proportion of the population in the EHSSB area is 19 %, in Ards 18.7 %, in Belfast 19.7 %, in Castlereagh 21.2 %, in Down 17.0 %, in Lisburn 16.0 % and in North Down 21.0 %.

The older population in Northern Ireland, as well as the EHSSB area, is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years. The graph below illustrates the year 2010, which is the year preceding the next Census, and show that the population over 60 in the EHSSB area will grow somewhat, particularly in the age groups 80 and over.

Currently, the Eastern Health and Social Services Board spends 24% of its budget on older people’s services, however, if the usage of acute services were to be taken into account this percentage would more than double.

I wish I’d listened more in French class

The following article has shown that being bilingual can delay the onset of dementia by four years.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/60646.php

why? :(

 

Sadly Maurice wasn’t lying about the beedogs…. http://www.beedogs.com/ 

I like the way it claims to be the premier repository for online pics…well see for yourself. I doubt they have much competition

XBox Live: Social Network?

With the milestone of 10 million subscribers reached this year. Xbox Live is truly an important arm of Microsoft’s global domination, but can it be classified as a social network?

 One of its key features is the use of friends lists, you could always search for real life friends or ask people you’ve met on-line to ‘be my friend’. Within the last number of months upgrades have enabled members to view their friends’ friends lists. With various messaging formats (text, voice or video) you can communicate easily with other members whether they are on-line or not.You can also fill in a Bio, Xbox Live’s version of a profile.

I think the case is a strong one

But perhaps it is more? this year at the Game Developers conference, in his key note speech John Schappert claimed Xbox Live was an Ecosystem. With all of the above reasons and the ability to download demos and extra content and to program your own games and share them with the on-line community, not to mention the fact that there is a valid currency, I tend to agree with him.

….What other social network allows you to converse with your friends whilst simultaneously taking potshots at them with a M16? 

Sub Catagories

Is there anyway we can tidy up the Catagories into subcatagories?