Monthly Archives: September, 2013

A new beginning

We claim to be committed to team working but hierarchies and tribal type loyalties often take precedence over genuine team approaches to meeting the needs of patients, writes Denis Doherty.

Leading healthcare speakers from Ireland and abroad will discuss and debate the future of the Irish healthcare service and the way forward for the country’s healthcare management at this year’s HMI Annual Conference.

New HSE Directors of Performance and Integration New Children’s Hospital Group Board National Paediatric Hospital Development Board CEO of Children’s Hospital Group

Senior health managers in the country’s voluntary hospitals are seriously concerned that the entire €150 million of anticipated health savings for 2013 could end up as a potential deficit on the books of the voluntary hospitals at the end of the year. Maureen Browne reports.

The additional hours agreed for health service staff under Haddington Road was the equivalent of providing an additional 3,000 WTEs for the service, Mr. Barry O’Brien HSE National Director for HR told the HMI Dublin Mid Leinster Forum in the Dublin University Dental Hospital. Maureen Browne reports.

The emphasis of the reorganised healthcare structures in Northern Ireland was on care pathways rather than professionals or institutions, Mr. Colm Donaghy, Chief Executive, Belfast Health & Social Care Trust told the HMI West Forum in Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, when he explained how the new structures worked. Maureen Browne reports.

Dr. Davida de la Harpe and Niall O’Neil argue that to deliver change and innovation we need greater transparency, which will allow the identification of opportunities for improvement, and will ensure accountability in service delivery.

A new report which provides a greater understanding of the practice of medicine in Ireland is of importance to senior health managers as it will enable planning to meet the evolving needs of Irish patients, writes Caroline Spillane, CEO of the Medical Council.

Dr. Padhraig Ryan outlines some international case studies where superior quality drove down costs and argues that, together with many other examples, these suggest we can achieve both quality and cost control.

The recent passing of the “Health (Amendment) Act 2013” which enables public hospitals to charge private health insurers for beds occupied by insured patients regardless of the bed they occupy, works contrary to both the aims and building blocks of Universal Health Insurance, writes Catherine Whelan.

Are those ‘1,500 spare administrative staff,’ referred to by Minister Howlin holed away in nooks and crannies, continuing to scratch out an existence below the health mainstream, alongside oblivious colleagues mystified by the missing chocolate biscuits in the staff kitchen, asks Laurence Nightingale.

Health managers may be interested in these events.