Back Row: John Kelly, Deputy CEO, Alexander Fives, Designer in Residence, Professor Dominick McCabe, Consultant Neurologist. (Missing Prof Paul Ridgeway and Niamh Wilke).
Tallaght University Hospital has been awarded funding of over €300,000 from HSE’s Spark Impact innovation fund.
The monies will be split between four separate cutting-edge projects as the Hospital remains committed to introducing the latest innovations in healthcare to benefit patients.
Projects from TUH that have been awarded funding:
- Advanced Practice Occupational Therapy (APOT) Led Integrated Hand & Wrist Clinic. This project creates a modernised care pathway providing GP-referred patients with direct access to specialist occupational health care professionals in a primary care setting, the first of its kind in Ireland. Patients with hand and wrist pathologies including carpal tunnel syndrome and ganglion cysts benefit from reduced waiting times, fewer hospital attendance, and improved overall outcomes.
- Personalised medicine for patients at risk of stroke. This project called “Rapid Pharmacogenetics and Platelet Reactivity Profiling to Facilitate Personalised Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients with Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) of Ischemic Stroke,” will be led by Consultant Neurologist Professor Dominick McCabe. Stroke is the leading cause of acquired physical disability in adults, a major risk factor for dementia, and the second most common cause of death worldwide. This innovative solution focuses on the area of precision medicine using pharma genetics, to optimise secondary prevention for patients following TIA/Ischemic stroke.
- Evolution of the hospital’s Smart CP App for patients. Funding has been secured to carry out a digitally enabled Patient Initiated Review of its Chronic Pancreatitis App. This will enable further development of the Smart CP app for patients with Chronic Pancreatitis. The Smart CP app enables patients to react more quickly if their health begins to deteriorate. Whether in Donegal or Kerry, they can use the app to immediately communicate any health problems or changes directly with their medical team
- Stronger for Surgery. This innovation project will explore how a special “prehabilitation” programme could be introduced to support patients ahead of elective surgery. The team is creating a hybrid prehabilitation service that integrates both acute and already established community care services to educate and empower patients who are waiting for surgery.
With the support of the Spark Impact funding and the Innovate Health team at TUH, staff involved in these four projects will successfully design, develop and deploy novel solutions to complex challenges for their patients, their colleagues, and the health service at large.
