Health Manager

Fair Play To You!

What a pity then that Croke Park ll not only involves further cuts in the income of most public servants but has created a perception of unfairness by appearing to treat similar circumstances differently and unfairly, writes Denis Doherty.

Which services need not be provided by staff?

One of the greatest challenges facing the Irish health services was to ensure that diminishing resources were absolutely focused on the core business of the health service, Mr. Tony O’Brien, Director Designate HSE told The 9th National Health Summit. Maureen Browne reports.

Healthcare challenges are opportunities in disguise

Michael J. Dowling, President & CEO of a New York health system with 16 hospitals and the full continuum of care from acute to ambulatory, outpatients, long term and home care, looks at the useful lessons which Ireland might learn from this system. Maureen Browne reports from the joint HMI/RCPI seminar on “Leading and Managing in a High Performance Health System.”

WELCOME

President’s Message

A Time for Brave Decisions Those of us who attended the HMI/RCPI Leadership Briefing on 5th March last in RCPI can only have been impressed by what was an inspiring and riveting afternoon. The briefing was conducted by Mr. Michael Dowling (President and Chief Executive) and Dr. Lawrence Smith (Executive Vice President and Physician in [...]

Write to Maureen

Health Manager Editor, Maureen Browne, would love to hear your views or comments on any aspects of the health service, on any issues raised in the current edition or your ideas or suggestions for articles for the journal.

maureen@hmi.ie

IN THIS ISSUE

News from around your health services

HSE appoints Chief Operations Officer
Mercy Urgent Care Centre opened
New Mater Emergency Department
Phoenix Care Centre opened
Investment needed in preventive eye care
Breast cancer diagnosed in 832 women
What’s in a name?
Referral thresholds for surgical procedures

Proposed new payment system for hospitals

A prospective case-based payment system (Diagnosis Related Group system) will replace the current block grant allocation payment to public hospitals; it is proposed in the Government’s new ‘Money Follows the Patient’ (MFTP) consultation document, Maureen Browne reports.

Re-balanced hospital budgets

HSE allocations to voluntary hospitals have been particularly controversial this year, following the HSE decision to “re-balance” hospital budgets, writes Maureen Browne.

Two new Boards to progress reform agenda

A Programme Management Office and a Health Reform Programme Board are being established in the Department of Health as part of the overall governance structure for the programme of reform, Health Minister, Dr. James Reilly told the 9th National Health Summit in Dublin. Maureen Browne reports.

Ms Eilish Hardiman, Dr. Ambrose Mcloughlin and Prof. John Crown

Leading large scale change

Tallaght Hospital in Dublin doubled the number of patients going through its Emergency Department between March and September last year, the hospital CEO, Ms. Eilish Hardiman told the 9th National Health Summit in Dublin. Maureen Browne reports.

Delivering better outcomes and savings

The system of funding the Irish health services needs a seismic overhaul, Mr. Brian Fitzgerald, CEO, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin, told the 9th National Health Summit in Dublin.

More patients will self manage

More patient self-management will be a feature of the health services in the future, Mr. Kieran Ryan, CEO, Irish College of General Practitioners, told the 9th National Health Summit in Dublin. Maureen Browne reports.

The hospital is dead – long live the hospital

Patients in Ireland still believed they were not getting out of the health system what was being put into it, Prof. John Higgins, Chair of the Hospital Group Strategic Board told the 9th National Health Summit in Dublin.

How much humanity can we inspire?

The chances of achieving all change objectives were pretty poor and the key question for leaders was to see what they could do to achieve the fraction of change which was possible, Dr. Helen Bevan, OBE, Chief of Service Transformation, NHS Institute for Innovation & Improvement, told the 9th National Health Summit in Dublin. Maureen Browne reports.

Values driven leadership

A presentation on how one organisation achieved major savings and introduced an effective performance management process on the back of the ‘Croke Park’ Agreement reforms was given to the 9th National Health Summit in Dublin by employment specialist, Gerald Flynn. Maureen Browne reports.

Maximising outcomes for every euro spent

Finance managers needed to have a knowledge of clinical quality and clinicians needed to have a basic financial knowledge of hospital costs, Dr. Mahmood Adil, National Quality & Efficiency Advisor, Department of Health, England told the 9th National Health Summit in Dublin. Maureen Browne reports.

Seventeen Ministers for Health!

Spain has 17 autonomous health services and 17 Ministers for Health, Mr. Santiago Delgado, Deputy Manager of the Ribera Salud Grupo, a private group which has been contracted by the state to run a number of hospitals in Spain, told the 9th National Health Summit in Dublin.

Managers and clinicians must co-operate

Opening the joint HMI/RCPI seminar on “Leading and Managing in a High Performance Health System,” the President of the HMI, Mr. Richard Dooley said that, now more than ever, it was very important for managers and clinicians to develop a common understanding and language in leading and managing the challenges facing all healthcare professionals.

The need to educate the next generation

An incredible commitment to educating the next generation of all medical care givers, including medical administrators, is the common purpose which glues the LIJ Health System together, Dr. Laurence Smith, Dean of the Medical School and Senior Physician to the System told the joint HMI/RCPI seminar on “Leading and Managing in a High Performance Health System.”

Will health managers score with Croke Park II?

THE proposed Croke Park II presents special challenges for public service managers, especially for those who ‘sat on the sidelines’ when Croke Park I was adopted three years ago. The days when a few, low-level absenteeism initiatives counted as post-recession reforms and performance management are fast disappearing, writes Gerald Flynn.

National Ambulance Service flying high

The HSE National Service Plan has prioritised the National Ambulance Service (NAS) for further development in 2013. Over 100 development posts have been identified to enable further development of the Emergency Aeromedical Service (EAS), Intermediate Care Service and National Control Centre Project, writes Robert Kidd.