Ulster University

ESRC Virtual Festival – Difficult conversations: when complaint communication falls short of patient expectations…

Ulster University on November 6, 2020, 11:40 am

| Readers 249

Catrin S Rhys (Ulster University), Bethan Benwell (Stirling University) & Jack B. Joyce (Ulster University) Real Complaints: www.realcomplaints.org In 2019/20, HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland received a total of 4,370 complaints, relating to 6,105 complaint issues. This equates to 84 complaints per week or approximately 12 complaints per day. Complaints about healthcare can be a positive; they can resolve problems for patients in the short term and in the longer term, they can help to improve services for other patients. …

What does behavioural science have to do with safe water interventions?

Ulster University on November 3, 2020, 10:41 am

| Readers 459

Over half of the world’s population lack safely managed sanitation services, while at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces (WHO, 2017). This causes diarrhoeal disease which is responsible for the death of around half a million children under the age of 5 each year (WHO, 2017). Without the adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions in place, risks of contamination are everywhere, and practices that pose a risk to health become highly prevalent. Examples …

The uneasy relationship between unionists and the RIC…

Ulster University on June 30, 2020, 9:00 am

| Readers 4254

Dr Adrian Grant is a Lecturer in Policy at UU Opinion: the complexity of events in Ireland a century ago does not lend itself to generalised statements about unionist history The extent of the recent controversy around the proposed state commemoration of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and the Dublin Metropolitan Police was largely unexpected. Some went so far as to say it contributed to Fine Gael’s poor showing in the February general election. Much has been written about this …

Social Security and Covid-19: An inadequate response to crisis…

Ulster University on May 21, 2020, 3:41 pm

| Readers 1536

By Ciara Fitzpatrick, Ulster University, School of Law Lockdown due to the Covid-19 global pandemic has had far reaching consequences for life as we know it. The economic repercussions will be huge – recent analysis by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has shown a 10 percent spike in unemployment, equating to around 2 million more people out of work in the UK. In the three weeks to 9 April, 45,000 new claims were made for Universal Credit (UC) in …

Schools: Locked down, separately…

Ulster University on April 27, 2020, 7:05 am

| Readers 2283

On 12th March, from the steps of the President’s Guest House in Washington, Leo Varadkar announced that schools across the Republic of Ireland would be closed to slow the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. His statement echoed concerns that had been raised by teaching unions and parents in Northern Ireland and increased pressure on the Assembly to follow suit. On 18th March, First Minister Arlene Foster declared that NI would by closing all schools with effect from Monday, 23rd March, …

How Covid-19 is affecting the new laws on abortion…

Ulster University on April 2, 2020, 7:34 am

| Readers 1366

The COVID19 crisis has brought with it a lot of alarming news, like that of a young woman who tried to take her own life, when refused an abortion at a local hospital, despite abortion now being legal here. She had been unable to travel to England due to flights being cancelled because of the COVID emergency. The feminist websites that have provided abortion pills for over a decade now report that COVID lockdowns in a number of countries mean …

How poor handwashing is increasing the spread of Coronavirus…

Ulster University on March 12, 2020, 12:15 pm

| Readers 1368

Aaron Lawson is Environmental Health Researcher and Teaching Fellow at Ulster University. You can follow him on Twitter. Handwashing is one of the most important factors in preventing the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and other diseases. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak which originated in Wuhan, China has now spread to more than 40 countries, and infected more than 80,000 people worldwide. It has also caused a number of deaths, mainly amongst those living and working at the centre of the outbreak, …

A challenge to the separation of schools…

Ulster University on February 18, 2020, 7:00 am

| Readers 4232

A closed and boarded-up primary school must be one of the commonest, and saddest, local sights. Crumbling façades. Peeling paintwork. Broken windows. The silent playground that once resounded to excited chatter. Weeds breaking through the tarmac where generations of children played football, rounders and ‘chasies’. Schools aren’t just places of education, they are centres of community and repositories of communal memories, but there is little place for such sentimentality in educational planning. Empty school desks and restrictive budgets mean that …

Beware the communication police…

Ulster University on November 13, 2019, 10:41 am

| Readers 2900

We all know communication is important. It’s at the heart of nearly everything that we do; how we form (and end) relationships; how we work and play; how we support each other or fight with each other. It makes sense to want to be able to do it well. Our desire to improve our communication skills has created an industry of communication “experts”. The internet is full of articles and videos telling viewers how to improve their communication. Self-help books …

Supporting dementia patients at home with digital tech…

Ulster University on October 31, 2019, 4:51 pm

| Readers 1035

For most people, the thought of a dementia diagnosis and the fear of losing their ability to recall treasured memories is devastating. Our research which used an iPad to help people living with dementia to reminisce showed how powerful memories can be and how important it is for people living with dementia to focus on the memories that they still have, rather than thinking about what is lost. Dementia is now a major public health concern with estimated annual costs …

Can art therapy be a form of visual protest?

Ulster University on October 30, 2019, 6:45 pm

| Readers 671

The body social is a term that relates to society and the impact of social content upon identity. Art therapy has a role to play in understanding how subjectivity and society are related. Everybody has the potential to live out of bounds, and is entitled to expression on their own terms. A feminist agenda for art therapy not only highlights the significance of “the personal is political”, but also activates public declarations of agency that declare the importance of “the …

Doing time: the reality of prison for young men…

Ulster University on October 29, 2019, 11:08 am

| Readers 1965

Across the UK, reports and inspections have continuously illuminated the ongoing concerns relating to the high levels of violence, self-harm and reoffending experienced by young men in prison, particularly in comparison to their older male counterparts. These issues are exacerbated by the high levels of lock-up and overcrowding all prisoners are subjected to. Within NI, Hydebank Wood Secure College (hereafter Hydebank) is responsible for imprisoning young men between the ages of 18 and 24. This event sets out the findings …

Putting food poverty in NI on the map…

Ulster University on October 22, 2019, 12:26 pm

| Readers 1521

In NI, food poverty and food access are problematic as approximately one-fifth of all households live in poverty. Shockingly, research has found that parents regularly go without food to feed their children and many households are unable to afford to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables (Poverty and Social Exclusion, 2014). In 2018, the Trussell Trust foodbanks provided 36,786 households in NI with emergency food parcels, witnessing an 8% increase in emergency food aid for children over the summer months alone. …