A former teacher who is serving a prison term for sexually abusing young girls has been stripped of his OBE. Denis Edward Grant was jailed for three and a half years at Belfast Crown Court in April.

A Fermanagh-based priest has explained why he has written an account of the sexual abuse he suffered as a child and while training for the priesthood.

The Health Minister, Paul Goggins, has called for urgent action over Northern Ireland’s level of service for mental health services for young people. Fears have emerged following the revelation that a 17-year-old girl admitted to hospital with anorexia nervosa had to wait for four days to see a psychiatrist. The family of Lauren Martin – who weighs four stone – was told thatbecause she was legally classed as an adult,doctors could not intervene until she went into a coma.

Services in Ireland for patients with the rare genetic disorder, Prader-Willi syndrome, need to be urgently improved, experts have said. The syndrome, often referred to as PWS, typically causes poor muscle tone, short stature, incomplete development of the genitalia, cognitive disabilities and problem behaviours. However it is probably most recognised by a chronic feeling of hunger, which can lead to excessive eating and subsequent life-threatening obesity.

The queue of people with intellectual disabilities for full-time residential care is longer than at any time in the last five years, according to figures from Ireland’s Health Research Board. But the number receiving such care is also at an all-time high. The HRB figures put the waiting-list at 2,118, while 8,181 people are receiving full-time residential services.

There are conflicting public attitudes to mental health in Northern Ireland, according to the latest research. The Health Promotion Agency findings are being presented at a seminar to mark World Mental Health Day.

Women are generally more likely to be prescribed drug treatment by GPs while men are more likely to be referred for specialist treatment, according to a report from the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) on mental health.

Consultant psychiatrists have criticised what they say is a lack of preparation by the HSE and Department of Health for the introduction of part two of the Mental Health Act on November 1. This legislation will provide a legal framework of entitlements for patients who are involuntarily detained in psychiatric hospitals. Psychiatrist members of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) say they are extremely concerned about the lack of resources being provided by the health authority for the full implementation of the legislation.

The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health (FIH) has expressed support for the announcement made by Northern Ireland Health Minister Paul Goggins that plans are underway to offer patients access to complementary and alternative medicines through GPs and local Health Boards. The announcement, delivered during Mr Goggin’s speech at a CAM health conference in Belfast, also included plans to introduce FIH’s Integrated Health Associates scheme and Awards for Good Practice in Integrated Health across the country.

A unique £9.3 million one-stop health care shop opened today in Northern Ireland. The Belfast-based Bradbury Centre is one of 40 planned Ulster centres which health chiefs are hoping will alleviate the province’s record-high outpatients’ waiting lists.
Located on the lower Lisburn Road, the new centre brings together a whole range of health and community care facilities, under one roof for the first time.