Monthly Archives: May, 2012

Time to progress Tallaght recommendations

There has been a general welcome by senior health managers of the HIQA report into Tallaght Hospital, its highlighting of current patient safety issues nationally and its broader recommendations regarding patient safety and good governance in all hospitals. Maureen Browne reports.

Health service managers will be heartened that Dr. Ambrose McLoughlin, the new Secretary General of the Department of Health is committed to the professional training and development of managers.

Health Minister, Dr. James Reilly is going to require the wisdom of Solomon to reach a decision on the location of the much needed Irish National Paediatric Hospital, writes Maureen Browne.

The new approach being mooted to performance improvement in hospitals, including, it is understood, a white traffic light which will indicate that a change of management may be about to take place, suggests a liking for, what he terms, the Abramovich style of management, writes Denis Doherty.

Health service manager, “Laurence Nightingale” offers some light-hearted advice to colleagues facing into another wave of reform within the public health services.

A new National Rehabilitation Hospital is to be built on the campus of the existing hospital in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.

New Department Director Special measures for hospitals failing to meet targets New Mater launched Temple Street Researcher Wins Neil Buist Award HSE National Director of Human Resources. Adoption Authority Chief Executive Hospital takes top honours Mental Health Commissioners appointed Free GP Care No change in screening guidelines Winner of outstanding achievement award Award for Ennis General Hospital Winners of Biomnis Healthcare Innovation Awards

Patients’ expectations were as high now as they had been during the Celtic Tiger period and managers needed to develop new and imaginative ways of managing resources to safeguard the quantum and quality of services, Ms. Breda Kavanagh, General Manager of South Tipperary General Hospital and Chair of HMI Southern Area Regional Committee, said when she opened the HMI South Forum in Cork.

Mr. Pat Harvey, Chair of the Public Service Health Service Implementation Body urged senior managers at the HMI South Forum in Cork to continue to embrace the philosophy of the Croke Park Agreement and to have continuing confidence around what it can achieve, writes Maureen Browne.

“The HSE’s performance management system is a process for establishing a shared understanding about what is to be achieved and how it is to be achieved and an approach to managing people that increases the probability of achieving success”, Mr. Paddy Duggan, HSE General Manager, Performance Management & Management Information, told the HMI South Forum in Cork. Maureen Browne reports.

She suspected that for those involved in the State-funded origins tracing service, the fall-out from a recent Supreme Court judgments must be quite discouraging, Emily O’Reilly, Ombudsman and Information Commissioner said in a presentation to the Medico Legal Society of Ireland earlier this year.

Health information technologies and eHealth systems are evolving and developing rapidly and before any decision is made on the specific model of eHealth that is appropriate for Ireland, it is essential to explore learnings from elsewhere and ensure that any future investment offers the best value possible and appropriately meets the needs of the Irish people, writes Professor Jane Grimson.

HMI is now on Facebook, Twitter and more. Find us on your favorite social network to be kept up-to-date with news, notification of HMI events, training programmes and special offers.

If innovation and creativity are to be encouraged in any large scale way within the health services, perhaps a comprehensive innovation strategy is required that engages with people at all levels, writes Keith McCarthy.

Managers need to handle their own publicity and social media is the tool of choice for an increasing number of health services organisations, writes Conor Hannaway.

Managers at the forefront of managing our healthcare services are all too familiar with the impact of the current fiscal situation on the resources available to them at a time when the demands on services are continuously increasing.

A few dates for your diary.