Unlocking HMI potential

The HMI is undertaking a major re-structuring which will point the Institute in a new direction in terms of serving its members, writes HMI President, Richard Dooley.

A new year beckons with new challenges and new opportunities for us all, including HMI. As a country, and over the past six months in particular, we have been through a series of events and happenings which even a year ago, did not register as remote possibilities.  Very, very few of us have emerged unscarred from these times and we have willingly submitted to self evaluation of one form or another and have undertaken an examination of all the values we hold dear.

And so too it is from the broader organisational perspective when we must re-define what “relevance”, “meaningful”, “supportive” actually mean to us in 2011 in our daily working lives as Health Service Managers.  It is against this background that HMI Council, in the latter part of 2010, decided to undertake a fundamental review of the Institute, how it engages with its membership, its relevance and, above all, how to maximise its potential to the professional gain of its members.

The outcome of the work undertaken by Council, and agreed at Council Meeting on Wednesday November 24 in Our Lady’s Hospital Crumlin, points the Institute in a new direction in terms of serving its membership.  The core strategic areas identified for priority action are:

• Structure
• Membership
• Benefits

Structure

Commencing in February 2011, HMI will establish four Regional Committees (one per HSE area) which will conduct a series of events/meetings on topics and themes decided on locally.  Each of the four Regional Committees will be supported by HMI funding on a yearly basis.  The Regional Committees will provide a local forum for health service managers to engage, to debate, to be informed and to discuss topical issues of relevance.  These fora will enable mutual support and development across a range of service issues and in a safe and non threatening environment.  It is planned that the number of Regional Committees will increase after year one.

Membership

It is agreed by HMI Council that a new strategy for membership needs to be developed so as to broaden the appeal of the Institute for potential members involved in management at all levels in the health services.  The membership strategy will also create new categories of member: Associate and Student.  Associate members will include those persons who do not satisfy entry criteria as “health service managers” but whose work is of value to the Institute.  Such persons, for example, would include academics who contribute to health service/management development and legal professionals with knowledge of health services.

Student membership will be available to those health service persons undergoing personal/professional development that will equip them for entry to junior management positions. The recent partnership between HMI and Healthcare Risk Managers’ Forum also serves as a model where two membership organisations share common objectives and can mutually assist each other from a professional development perspective.  It is planned that the new membership strategy will be completed in February.

Benefits

HMI recognises that central to any developmental strategy is the matter of benefits available to members.  Such benefits range from professional recognition/accreditation, “right” to practice, access and onward to financial and personal/lifestyle benefits.  HMI Council has established a working group to review this area and to recommend a “benefits package” that is unique to and of value (professional and personal) to HMI Members.

The foregoing is a brief summation of the work currently underway in the three core areas identified.  Members can expect updates on this on the HMI website, which itself is being redesigned to put it on a comparable basis with other membership organisations: timely, relevant and value adding.

COMING YOUR WAY

AND COMING SOON

A RESTRUCTURED HMI

WHAT

WHEN

WHY