Two projects tied for the 2017 HMI Leaders Award which were presented by HMI President, Lucy Nugent at a ceremony in the Prof. David Boucher Hayes room at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin before Christmas.
Joint winners were the Project “WALK,” in partnership with Tallaght Hospital Walkways Tallaght Hospital and the HSE South Lee Mental Health Services, Blackrock Hall Primary Care Centre Project “ Personal Journeys of Stigma and Recovery.”
Presenting the awards, the HMI President said that she and the judging panels had been deeply impressed with the calibre of the entries, which were indicative of the depth and range of the innovation projects taking place in health and social care around the country.
“I want to say that the entries we have received make me feel humbled and proud to work in the health services and very proud of my colleagues,“ said Ms. Nugent.
“So many of you have given up your spare time – such as it is – to develop new initiatives which will make life better for clients and patients. Since it was introduced, the HMI Leaders Award has gone from strength to strength and we in the HMI are delighted that it enables us to recognise and give credit to the wonderful work that is going on, often unnoticed, in the area of health and social services.”
Five finalists selected from hundreds of entries around the country presented their projects to the National Judging Panel on the day.
They were:
- Catherine Kelly
WALK in partnership with Tallaght Hospital
Walkways Tallaght Hospital - Shauna Ennis
Tallaght Hospital
Implementation of an innovative nursing role; Clinical Support Nurse Manager at Night - Deborah Harrington
St. Raphaels, Youghal, Cork
Move to Community – St. Raphaels’ Centre – The Role of the Community Transition Coordinator - Conor Crowley and Leona Moynihan
HSE South Lee Mental Health Services
Blackrock Hall Primary Care Centre
Personal Journeys of Stigma and Recovery – A short film project by the Blackrock Hall Men’s Group - Dr Anna Marie Naughton
Adult Homeless Integrated Service.
St. Finbarr’s Hospital, Cork
Adult Homeless Integrated Team, CHO 4
Chair of the Judging Panel, Mr. Eamonn Fitzgerald, HMI Council Member and Chief Executive of the Hermitage Clinic, Dublin said that the Judges had had a most difficult job in selecting the winner. In the event they had decided that they would jointly give the award to WALK and Personal Journeys of Stigma and Recovery.
“However, I just want to say that each of the finalists here today is a winner, as indeed are all those who entered for these awards. On behalf of the judging panel, I want to congratulate you all on your commitment, innovation and hard work.”
The National Judging Panel was chaired by Eamonn Fitzgerald, HMI Council Member and Chief Executive Hermitage Medical Clinic, Suzanne Dempsey, Director of Nursing, National Children’s Hospital Group, Ian Addie, Head of Patient Access, Novartis Ireland, Caroline O’Regan, Executive Development Specialist, RCSI Institute of Leadership and, Dr. Conor Malone, HSE National Fellow for Innovation and Change.
The awards were sponsored by Novartis Ireland.
