The HSE has prioritised creating a culture where every staff member places the safety and care of our patients and service users as central to their work, confident in the knowledge that they are supported to work to the best of their ability, writes Mellany McLoone, IHA Manager: Dublin North City & West, HSE Dublin and North East.
We will treat our patients, service users, their families, carers and one another with compassion, dignity and respect.
Over the past number of years, our area has invested in a number of compassionate leadership programmes including senior leadership time to mentor and support the participants on the programme. While feedback from participants has been positive, the participants have found the completion of the group project challenging while continuing to deliver the day job. The opportunity to self-reflect, engage with peers and learn more about their colleagues and the services provided is always welcomed by staff. There is also an indirect benefit where it also positively impacts on staff engagement with service users through new knowledge.
In line with the principles of Sláintecare, our programme was delivered for the first time in 2025 in a truly integrated manner. It included participants from the statutory, voluntary and community sectors. We had many professions and all services represented. This in itself provided the programme with a richness of diversity and experience.
As always at the start of the programme participants are given a menu of projects to choose from. This year three of the groups chose to focus on compassionate leadership. The interest in this area was heartening and demonstrated to me the interest staff had in understanding and delivering the principles across the IHA.
From the participants to date, compassionate leadership stands out as a powerful approach that prioritises empathy, understanding, and support.
Some of the core reasons include:
- Fostering a Positive Work Environment
Compassionate leadership nurtures a culture of kindness and respect. It encourages open communication and builds trust among team members. When people feel valued and understood, they’re more engaged and productive. This also positively impacts on how staff engage and value the service users and clients who access our services. - Enhancing Employee Well-being
Leadership that prioritises compassion pays attention to the well-being of employees. By understanding their challenges and offering support, leaders can improve job satisfaction and help alleviate stress. - Driving Sustainable Success
A compassionate approach doesn’t just benefit individuals; it strengthens our organisation as a whole. By fostering loyalty and commitment, compassionate leadership can lead to sustained success and growth.
The decision to sign the compassionate leadership pledge was not a decision taken lightly. It was important to the participants, their colleagues and organisations they represented, the pledge had meaning. The participants committed to provide me with a road map by which we could deliver compassionate leadership across the IHA. They undertook their task with enthusiasm and humility. They demonstrated a very clear understanding of compassionate leadership and more importantly they set out key milestones and deliverable actions which can be measured to monitor the success of implementing compassionate leadership across the IHA.
Our next step is to take these three projects and develop a clear action plan for implementation across the IHA. This will be strongly supported by the work being undertaken by the HSE’s Culture Lead and implementing the Enabling Framework for Organisational Culture. There will be a number of aspects to this including developing a clear communication plan, establishing governance structure to oversee the development and implementation of our plan.
We know it will take a period of time, resources, leadership commitment, resilience and patience but as an IHA we believe by embracing compassionate leadership, we can create a more inclusive and productive workplace. Our pledge is:
“IHA Dublin North City & West commits to pursuing, promoting, developing and embedding the Compassionate Leadership Pledge Principles across all services within the IHA. These principles will guide our way of working with each other as staff and also how we engage with the communities who use our services.”
