A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Roadshow tackles inspection process
EARLY CHILDHOOD Ireland has embarked on a nationwide roadshow to discuss the new inspection process for creches and preschools which puts more emphasis on the wellbeing of the child. The organisation, formed by the merger of the Irish Preschool Play Association and the National Children's Nurseries Association, is hosting the roadshow because of changes brought in by HSE inspection teams in September. The roadshow goes to Dungarvan and Nenagh this evening.
RONAN MCGREEVY
Barnardos pessimistic with incomes down 12%
ONE OF Ireland’s best known children’s charities, Barnardos, has stated that the outlook for children in Ireland is ominous, citing high levels of child poverty and reductions in social spending.
This view features in a report attached to Barnardos’ annual accounts for 2010 which show voluntary income to the charity dropped by 12 per cent from €8.5 million to €7.4 million in the 12 months to the end of December last.
Figures show the charity had a €1.64 million loss last year, but this is accounted for by a write-down of €1.78 million on its property in Mulhuddart. The charity’s overall income decreased by 13 per cent from €27.5 million to €24 million last year, with the amount spent, including charitable activities, totalling €25.6 million.
Barnardos’ income was boosted by a grant of €1.85 million in 2010 from Atlantic Philanthropies. The cost to the charity of generating its total voluntary income came to €2.1 million last year
The report states: “Public services remain inadequate and under-resourced, adversely affecting the most vulnerable children in Ireland. Children’s lives are stunted by poverty, disadvantage and an uneven playing field in terms of access to education, health and housing services.
“This access to and provision of comprehensive essential social services has always played second fiddle to other priorities and now, in an era of recession, they are pushed further down the Government agenda.”
The accounts show that one employee earned between €110,000 and €120,000 in 2010, with two receiving between €100,000 and €110,000.
GORDON DEEGAN
New procedure reduces resistant blood pressure
PATIENTS WHO suffer from resistant high blood pressure in the west of Ireland now have access to a new cardiology procedure which leads to a significant and sustained drop in blood pressure.
University Hospital Galway (UHG) is the first public hospital in Ireland to perform renal artery denervation procedures in patients with hypertension or high blood pressure, who are not responding to medication or who cannot tolerate it.
The day procedure involves passing a flexible catheter from a leg artery to the arteries that supply the kidneys. Radio frequency ablation of the renal arteries is used to disrupt the sympathetic nerves in the kidney which are known to contribute to high blood pressure.
The procedure has also been carried out privately in the Blackrock Clinic and it has been performed on a patient with congenital heart disease in the Mater Hospital.
In Europe, about one in three of the adult population has high blood pressure and this figure rises to nearly two in three in Ireland. Dr Faisal Sharif, consultant cardiologist at UHG, said: “Each incremental increase of 20mmHg systolic/10mmHg diastolic blood pressure is associated with a doubling of cardiovascular mortality over a 10-year period.
“Research has shown that a reduction of 10mmHg drop in blood pressure results in a 30-40 per cent reduction in the risk of stroke and a 25 per cent reduction in the risk of ischemic heart disease .” The procedure uses a Symplicity catheter, manufactured by Medtronic in Galway.
MICHELLE McDONAGH