HomeSeptember 2016Minister to deliver keynote HMI Conference address

Minister to deliver keynote HMI Conference address

Health Minister, Simon Harris will deliver the opening address at this year’s HMI National Conference which will be held in The Concert Hall at the RDS, Dublin on Thursday September 29 next.

HMI Annual Conference 2016
HMI Annual Conference 2016

GETTING IT RIGHT – Making Better Choices is the theme of the 2016 Conference, which is set to be one of the most exciting health conferences of the year. It will explore the competencies, technologies and processes which assist managers in making better choices with the resources at their disposal.

The Conference will be formally opened by HMI President, Lucy Nugent.

Simon Harris T.D.
Simon Harris T.D.

The Minister for Health will set the scene as he outlines his vision for healthcare delivery in Ireland and his expectations of managers responsible for turning that vision of service delivery, quality, cost management and patient care into reality. Mr. Harris will also discuss the new government’s policies and planned initiatives.

HMI President, Lucy Nugent
HMI President, Lucy Nugent

HMI President, Lucy Nugent, said our health system faced many challenges currently and into the future. Similarly, to the other areas of life, the choices made in healthcare delivery were constrained by finite resources, either in the areas of finances, skills or facilities.

“For managers, the complexities associated with the delivery of a modern healthcare system could place them in a quandary.  Our conference will explore the competencies, technologies and processes which assist managers in making better choices with the resources at their disposal.  The Conference will also consider the pressures which can be encountered by managers and staff when working under severe constraints and will discuss options to build staff resilience.”

Conference speakers include:

The Broader View

Eric De Roodenbeke
Eric De Roodenbeke

Eric De Roodenbeke, Director General, International Hospital Federation, who will speak on International insights into management competencies in the opening session. He will discuss the outcome of an extensive international research and consultation programme across Europe, the US and Asia which identified these competencies.

Dr. Josef Dullings
Dr. Josef Dullings

Dr. Josef Dullings President of the German Association of Hospital Managers (VKD) and CEO, Hospitals of Saint Vincenz, Paderborn, Germany, who will discuss Lean management: A German perspective. With his extensive experience of the German healthcare system, he is ideally positioned to provide valuable insights into the German hospital system and the contribution of lean management to meeting the service delivery and cost challenges faced by all healthcare systems.

Dr. Brian Turner
Dr. Brian Turner

Dr. Brian Turner, Lecturer in Economics, University College, Cork will speak on “The reality of health economics in Ireland.”  He will discuss health economics in Ireland in the context of the wider economic environment and the demands which health places on the public purse. He will explore options for healthcare funding in Ireland against the backdrop of the experience of different models operating in Europe.

Levers of Change in Healthcare Delivery

Lorcan Birthistle
Lorcan Birthistle

“Levers of Change in Healthcare Delivery” will be the title of the second session which will be chaired by Lorcan Birthistle, HMI Vice President and CEO of St. James’s Hospital, Dublin.

This session will focus on two of the most important levers of change in the health service – technology and quality improvement. One requires significant financial investment and the other, though not as cost intensive, equally requires the sustained commitment of management and staff to be successful.

Dr. Jennifer Dixon
Dr. Jennifer Dixon

Dr. Jennifer Dixon,  Chief Executive, The Health Foundation, who will speak on Driving Quality Improvement in the NHS. She will outline the benefits that frontline-led quality improvement programmes can bring to the health services and  discuss the challenges faced by frontline staff and the three kinds of support they need to get from management.

Richard Corbridge
Richard Corbridge

Richard Corbridge, Chief Information Officer, HSE and Chief Executive Officer, eHealth Ireland and Yvonne Goff, Chief Clinical Information Officer, HSE, who will explore enhancing capability, knowledge and timely access to information challenges faced by all healthcare systems. They are both at the forefront of developing and implementing ICT strategies with the potential to transform and integrate service delivery across the health services.

Denis Doherty
Denis Doherty

The third session will feature two speakers. Denis Doherty HMI Council Member and Chair of the National Adjudication Panel will discuss the HMI Leaders Award 2016. Launched in 2014, the HMI Leaders Award recognises leaders who are bringing about changes in healthcare, delivering improvements in patient outcomes, enhancing service access and delivery and improving resource allocation. Each year the HMI Leaders Award showcases the expertise, risk-taking and perseverance which teams and individuals display in striving to achieve change within our health services.

Patient values and care

Lia Mills
Lia Mills

Lia Mills, Author and Writer. Drawing on her own experiences as both a patient and advocate, Lia will provide a personal perspective on the importance of the values of compassion and respect for patients. Lia will also refer to practical ways in which the services can give substance to those values.tle, ce President, Health Management Institute and CEO, St. James’s Hospital

Managers: Inspirational and Resilient

Managers: Inspirational and Resilient will be the title of the fourth session. Managers often focus on their responsibilities for performance planning and delivery. There are other ways in which managers can support staff such as being aware of and responding to human factors at work. Faced with the stresses of managing tasks and people, this session will also focus on the pressures which managers face as they deal with conflicting demands from different stakeholders.

Prof. Jim Lucey
Prof. Jim Lucey

Prof. Jim Lucey, Medical Director, St. Patrick’s Mental Health Services, Dublin and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, whose presentation will be on The health manager’s life: pressure, stress and resilience. He will identify some of the major causes of stress and its consequences for managers. He will also identify the signs which indicate that pressures and stresses are impacting negatively and suggest some mechanisms which managers can use to build resilience.

Prof. Anne Scott
Prof. Anne Scott

Prof. Anne Scott, Professor and Vice President for Equality and Diversity, National University of Ireland, Galway will speak on 21st century leadership.  People in the health services are talented and committed and she will discuss the kind of leadership which is required to inspire people and transform the ways in which work is done and also deal with the complexities and opportunities presented by managing a diverse workforce.

Prof. Oscar Traynor
Prof. Oscar Traynor

Prof. Oscar Traynor, Director, National Surgical Training Centre, RCSI, and Professor of Postgraduate Surgical Education, RCSI,will speak on Insights from human factors.  Prof. Traynor will discuss the practical implications of human factors, including leadership, teamwork, communications and the management of critical events on the work of professionals and their link to favourable and adverse outcomes in clinical practice.

Managers can register for the Conference on the HMI website – www.hmi.ie. The conference is registered for 6 CPD points.

HMI President, Lucy Nugent said modern healthcare delivery was a vastly complex undertaking. All projections indicated that demand for services would only go one way over the coming decades. “While there is much that we get right in delivering care, there is an understanding of the need for continuous improvement. Making better choices now will help to provide a world class service into the future with enhanced patient centred care.

“We can all recite the current constraints on our healthcare system: financial, facilities, skills based.  Managers must negotiate the boundaries between increasing demands and rising expectations. The management of expectations is part of a wider debate. The volume and nature of resource availability is also out of our hands. The strategic use of the available resources remains within our remit. Building culture, implementing new technologies and work practices, integrating services, updating professional and personal competencies, and building closer relationships with patients and other stakeholders all remain key objectives for managers.

“Managers need to understand the choices that are available to them in order to deliver a more joined up service now, and into the future. Our conference will stimulate the debate about those systems, technologies, and strategies that managers can harness to deliver better services.

“Our panel of speakers, all experts in their own field, will assist managers to navigate through these complexities and will focus on two main areas. During the morning we will consider the strategic context for decision making in political, economic and technological areas in the world of healthcare. The afternoon session will focus on experiences of managers in the healthcare environment including dealing with conflicting priorities, ethical decision-making, increasing pressures and the need for managers to engage in the development their competencies and to build the resilience needed to manage in these challenging times.

“During the day, there will be opportunities for debate and discussion and a chance for managers to network with their peers and others from the Irish health services.”

Speakers biographies

Eric De Roodenbeke, Director General, International Hospital Federation,  is a French national with an extensive international experience in health systems and policies and a strong background in hospital management. He has been CEO of the International Hospital Federation since June 2008. Prior to this, he worked a total of four years at the World Health Organisation and the World Bank, leading various health intervention, educational, management and capacity building programmes mostly in Africa. He was a Director of several French hospitals of different types for an overall period of ten years. He also worked at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs for ten years, both at head quarters and in field projects in Africa. He holds a Ph.D. in health economic, a Hospital Administration postgraduate diploma and a University diploma in Public Health. He has taught in various masters programs and senior continuous education courses and published several books, as well as various articles in professional journals.

Dr. Brian Turner is an economics lecturer at University College Cork. Having graduated with an MA in Economics in 1994, he spent five years as a property analyst in London, before joining estate agents Hamilton Osborne King as Head of Research in 1999. In 2002, he joined The Health Insurance Authority – the statutory regulatory body for the Irish private health insurance industry – as Head of Research/Technical Services. He completed a Ph.D. in Economics, focusing on health insurance issues, in UCC in early 2010.  He now lectures in the School of Economics, focusing in particular on health and insurance issues.  His research has been published nationally and internationally, he has been invited to deliver speeches at a number of high-profile events, and he is a frequent contributor to national media discussions on the Irish health system. Brian is also co-director of the Postgraduate Diploma/MA in Health Economics Practice, an online programme designed to give students the skills to apply economic decision-making to the health sector.

Dr. Josef Dullings, President of the German Association of Hospital Managers (VKD) and  CEO, Hospitals of Saint Vincenz, Paderborn, Germany. With his extensive experience of the German healthcare system, Josef is ideally positioned to provide valuable insights into the German hospital system and the contribution of lean management to meeting the service delivery and cost challenges faced by all healthcare systems.

Richard Corbridge is an expert in healthcare strategy and technology recognized by his industry globally. Since December 2014, Corbridge has been the Chief Information Officer for the HSE and Chief Executive Officer for eHealth Ireland. He has been involved in the Health and Clinical Research Information sectors, leading various informatics delivery functions since the late ‘90s. Richard has led the delivery of a wide range of systems and process to aid the provision of healthcare and research. These range from the first primary care messaging system in the NHS, to a health and social care single assessment process within a care trust and modernisation of the information systems’ infrastructure for the delivery of clinical research throughout England.

In the past three years Richard has been named the fifth most influential CIO in Europe by CIO magazine; a rising star of the IT Industry by Computer Weekly; one of the most ‘Social CIOs’ by Huffington Post; placed in the top five of the CIO 100, number one in the category of Health in the CIO 100 and voted IT person of the year at the Tech Excellence Awards 2016.

Yvonne Goff is Chief Clinical Information Officer, Health Service Executive. She is the Chief Clinical Information Officer of the Health Service Executive in Ireland. It has been over twelve months since the CCIO was established in Ireland and it has expanded over the past year, under Yvonne’s guidance, to a network of over 170 members across many regions and disciplines. A radiographer by background, Yvonne has over 18 years of experience in the Health Sector with five of these directly involved in Informatics. Yvonne has been a key driver in one of the largest eHealth projects in Ireland to date, the NIMIS project, and has developed an expertise in project delivery in difficult environments. In 2016, Yvonne won the IT Person of the Year at the Tech Excellence Awards.

Dr. Jennifer Dixon, joined the Health Foundation as Chief Executive in October 2013. Prior to this, she was Chief Executive of the Nuffield Trust from 2008 to 2013 and director of policy at The King’s Fund and policy advisor to the Chief Executive of the National Health Service between 1998 and 2000. She has undertaken research and written widely on health care reform both in the UK and internationally.
Originally trained in medicine, Dr. Dixon practised mainly paediatric medicine, prior to a career in policy analysis. She has a Masters in public health and a Ph.D. in health services research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 1990, she was a Harkness Fellow in New York and in 2009, was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. She was awarded a CBE for services to public health in 2013.

Prof. Jim Lucey is Medical Director, St. Patrick’s Mental Health Services, Dublin and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin.  He has worked with patients suffering from mental health problems for more than 30 years, specialising in the assessment, diagnosis and management of OCD and other anxiety disorders.  His book ‘In My Room’ was a bestseller and he regularly features on ‘Today with Sean O’Rourke’ on Irish national radio, RTE Radio 1.

Prof. Oscar Traynor is Director National Surgical Training Centre and Professor of Postgraduate Surgical Education at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He has been responsible for introducing several innovations to surgical training in Ireland — including the world’s first e-learning programme for surgical trainees, a comprehensive curriculum- based surgical simulation programme for teaching technical skills and an integrated human factors training programme. He has published widely on various aspects of surgical training and has also lectured extensively on the subject of Human Factors in Surgery in Europe, Australia and in the United States.

He is also Director of Clinical Governance at Hermitage Medical Clinic in Dublin, a post he has held since 2014. In this role he has promoted various patient safety initiatives including the Patient Safety First campaign. Through the Clinical Governance Committee he has achieved wide stakeholder involvement in promoting the “culture of patient safety” at the Hermitage. He is the Clinical Director and co-founder of i360 Medical, a medical device innovation company based in Dublin but with a large international footprint. This company provides a “one stop shop” for medical device innovation from initial ideation through to market and clinical practice. He has recently retired from clinical practice as a surgeon at St. Vincents University Hospital Dublin, where his clinical interests were based around Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, including Liver Transplantation. For more than 25 years he headed up a very busy Hepatopancreatobiliary  Surgery unit and played a leading role in developing the National Liver Transplant Programme in Ireland in the early 1990s. The HPB unit at St. Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin is the sole national tertiary referral centre for Liver Transplantation and for Pancreas Cancer surgery in Ireland.

Prof. Anne Scott, Professor and Vice President for Equality and Diversity, National University of Ireland, Galway. Over her career she has held a variety of leadership roles in both the health and university sectors including Head of School (Nursing and Human Sciences, DCU), Executive Dean (Education, Health and Community, Liverpool John Moores University) and Deputy President and Registrar (DCU) in the Irish and English university sectors. She has also worked as a practitioner and academic in Kenya, Scotland, England and Ireland.

Her research interests include the ethics domain of health care practice, the philosophy and ethics of health care, judgement and decision-making in clinical practice and health services research – focusing on the health work force. Anne was the Irish lead on the EU funded RN4CAST project and a recent publication investigating links between nurse patient ratios, nurse education and patient outcomes, with Aiken and colleagues, has received international acclaim.

She has been a member of a number of research funding agencies and health service agencies in Ireland – Board member of the Health Research Board, founding member of the Irish Council for Bioethics, Board member of the Health Service Executive (Ireland). She was until June 2016 a member of the Board of Governors of the Royal Liverpool and Broad Greed Hospitals NHS Trust and Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

In 2006 writer Lia Mills was diagnosed with an advanced squamous cell carcinoma in her cheek and gums. The initial prognosis was not good, but she came through radical treatment and its aftermath and wrote a memoir of the experience In Your Face (2007). Lia went on to become a founder member of Mouth Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Ireland (MHNCAI) and co-edited Word of Mouth: Coping with and Surviving Mouth Head and Neck Cancers (2013) with Dr. Denise MacCarthy. Her third novel, Fallen (2014), was the One City One Book selection for both Dublin and Belfast in 2016.  Also in 2016 she was awarded an honorary doctorate (LL.D) by Trinity College in recognition of the work of the Mouth Head and Neck Cancer awareness campaign.