Monthly Archives: November, 2016

An exciting year ahead for HMI

A major programme of reconfiguration of acute hospital services originally in the Cork and Kerry Hospital and subsequently extending to all of the South/South West Hospital Group, was one of the six finalists for the HMI Leaders Award Major Project category.

Moninne Howlett, Chief II Pharmacist (Informatics) describes a project to reduce medication error to critically ill children, for which she and Cormac Breatnach, Consultant Paediatric Intensivist, both of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin received a special commendation from the judges at this year’s HMI Leaders Award.

“Within Our Reach: Supporting the Functional Hand Use of Children with Cerebral Palsy,” enables the delivery of evidence-based interventions which have been shown to improve children’s functional potential and allay the natural course of CP through a preventative approach, improving long-term quality of life, write Margaret McGrath and Eimear Quinlan, Occupational Therapy Department, Enable Ireland, Dublin Children’s Services, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4.

We have a song to sing New Tallaght Strategy New Cancer Institute for Dublin Agreement on Holles Street move to St. Vincent’s Additional €17m for health and wellbeing Bon Secours wins the ‘Oscars' UCC College of Medicine & Health Alzheimer Society of Ireland Chief Improving discharge planning Dementia-Specific Garden at Connolly Hospital HSE HR Department Scoops Overall Award HSE consults on future of general practice Improving safety Additional €3m for drugs and social inclusion Implement national maternity strategy Women unaware of cancer risk New unit opened at Cappagh Hospital Significant reductions in waiting lists Calling women to Breastcheck Ireland’s first navy hospital ship HIQA names disability centres Quality improvement initiatives Take suspected hip fractures to trauma hospitals Review of medicinal cannabis policy Healthcare workers should get ‘flu jab Irish drug use and gambling Quadruplets, triplets and twins Three die from alcohol misuse daily

Hard pressed health managers are caught in a cleft stick forced to choose between trying to recruit sufficient frontline staff to maintain services, while working within the virtual staff recruitment moratorium and keeping within their existing budgets, writes Maureen Browne.

Over the past year, Sharon Morrow, HMI Council Member, and CEO of LauraLynn Children’s Hospice, has spent some of her annual holidays volunteering in the medical caravans in the Refugee camp in Calais, infamously known as ‘The Jungle’. Maureen Browne reports.

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland is running a two year MSc course for Physician Associates, a new grade of staff to be introduced to the Irish Health Service, writes Maureen Browne.

The five main issues facing the new Community Health Organisations were integration, autonomy, boundaries, dismantling old structures and politics, Tony Canavan, Chief Officer, HSE CHO Area 2, which covers Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, told a meeting of the HMI West Forum in Merlin Park Hospital, Galway.

In one of his great songs from 1999, Paul Brady poses a series of questions and admits that in each case – ‘the answer is, nobody knows,’ writes Denis Doherty.

As we continue to develop our health services, we need to consider the challenges that we will face. This is sometimes difficult to do as healthcare professionals and managers struggle to meet the current demand that they face, writes Dr. Peter Lachman.

Healthy Ireland in the Health Services Implementation Plan 2015 – 2017 focuses on where the Health Services can take concerted and specific actions, at all levels to improve health and wellbeing and prevent the onset of disease, writes Sarah McCormack, National Programme Lead, Healthy Ireland, Health & Wellbeing Division.

The European Hospital Healthcare Federation (HOPE) is an international non-profit organisation representing both national, public and private hospitals’ associations as well as hospital owners, either federations of local and regional authorities or national health services, writes Eamonn Fitzgerald.

For some 2016 will be remembered for Brexit and the building of walls, for me it was HOPE and getting a closer understanding of Europe, its citizens and the various healthcare systems. If you’re confused or interested read on, writes Joseph Ruane.

The HRB Clinical Research Facility, Galway (HRB-CRFG) provides the infrastructure, physical space, facilities, expertise and culture needed to optimally support bioscience and biomedical research, writes Aideen O’Doherty, Programme Manager, HRB Clinical Research Facility Galway, National University of Ireland, Galway.

HSE statistics have revealed that the majority of employees are female, 20 per cent of all employees are over the age of 55 and more women than men work in higher grade jobs. Maureen Browne reports.

A dedicated Workforce Planning Unit is to be established within the HSE HR Directorate, in an effort to ensure an integrated multi-disciplinary approach to Health Workforce Planning that can meet the needs of the health and social care sector for the future, write Mary McCarthy and Maureen Browne.

The Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016 gives two weeks paternity leave to fathers or the spouse, civil partner or cohabitee of children born on or after September 1, 2016, or to a spouse, civil partner, cohabitee, of an adopting mother or sole male adopter adopting a child on or after September 1, 2016, writes Davnet O’Driscoll.

Health managers may be interested in these events.