Health Service Excellence Awards

HEALTH SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARDS SHOWCASE INCREDIBLE STAFF INNOVATION

The annual HSE Health Service Excellence Awards represent an opportunity for staff to share and showcase their innovative and exceptional work. They promote team work, facilitate staff to establish their service as an exemplar and help demonstrate how staff are valued for the work that they do. A record number of entries – totalling almost 700 – were received this year with 80 staff members nominated for their outstanding contribution. Entries featured both COVID and non-COVID related services and all winners in the eight categories were worthy recipients. Congratulating award recipients and entrants, HSE CEO Paul Reid noted how staff had showcased their “impressive skills and their can do attitude in every aspect of their work.” Commenting on the quality of the entries, the CEO said that patients and the public were “already reaping the efforts of staff to prioritise and improve patient care. This is what the health service is all about.” Describing it as a privilege to add his congratulations, An Taoiseach Micheal Martin noted how the country was now “slowly emerging from one of the toughest years our health service has experienced. I want to express how grateful I am and how grateful the entire country is for the leadership, commitment, resilience and adaptability demonstrated by health service staff – you have my admiration and respect and the admiration and respect of the Government.” Commenting specifically on the awards, the Taoiseach said the “innovation and ambition demonstrated by all the projects submitted is emblematic of the quality of service you provide.”

SERVICE DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION IN RESPONDING TO COVID

CONTACT TRACING ‘SAVED THOUSANDS OF LIVES’

The national contact management programme was responsible for saving thousands of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Sarah Doyle, a specialist in public health medicine, was Clinical Lead of the HSE Contact Management Programme from March 2020 to March 2021, said the lives were saved ‘by breaking individual chains of transmission through advice to cases and close contacts and also through enabling departments of public health to manage large and complex outbreaks and also do contact tracing in complex and highly vulnerable settings’. The establishment of the contact management programme was the winning project in the award for Service Development and Innovation in Responding to COVID-19. “We established the Contact Management Programme in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the knowledge of the very large numbers of cases and close contacts that would soon be coming our way in Ireland,” she said. “The idea was to provide contact tracing of high volume but low complexity cases and contacts so the Departments of Public Health could use their expertise to manage high complex settings and outbreaks. The impact of our contact management programme, I believe, was in the saving of thousands of lives.” “A secondary impact was the impact it had on those of us who worked in the contact management programme. It showed us how we, working as a team, could respond so effectively and efficiently to a crisis of this magnitude.”

Dr John Coulter

EXCELLENCE IN QUALITY CARE 100% SUCCESS RATE FOR NATIONAL GESTATIONAL TROPHOBLASTIC DISEASE CENTRE

The winner in the Excellence in Quality Care category was the National Gestational Trophoblastic Disease Centre in Cork University Hospital. Explaining the background and thanking those involved, Dr John Coulter, Consultant Gynaecologist and Clinical Lead, explained, “In this disease a malignancy can occur in the placenta which requires multiple courses of chemotherapy for cure in many women. Over many years in Ireland the management of gestational trophoblastic disease and molar pregnancy has been quite inconsistent and many patients have had to travel to the UK for treatment. “But with the help of the National Cancer Control Programme and the HSE we set up a National Gestational Trophoblastic Disease Centre here in Ireland to provide excellence in care for all women diagnosed with molar pregnancy in Ireland. “Since going live in 2017 we have managed over 500 women in Ireland with gestational trophoblastic disease and molar pregnancy with 100% success rate. Many of these women have required multiple courses of chemotherapy but all have been cured thankfully. Most patients give us feedback telling us that as well as receiving professional and expert medical care, they also feel minded by our nurse specialists. To me, this peace of mind that the patients have, while being medically managed on this dangerous journey, means that the establishment of our national centre has been a success.”

COCOONING PROJECT HAS REAL AND POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY

A project to help older people remain strong and steady on their feet was the winner in the Supporting a Healthy Community category. Turners Cross Day Care Centre’s initiative supporting older adults to stay physically active during COVID-19 cocooning and beyond had a massive impact on local older people, and continues to see results. Michelle McNamara is the senior physiotherapy behind the programme. “The aim of this project was to assist a role for adults to remain strong and steady on their feet and so reduce their falls risk. We created an evidence-based exercise resource which we also supported with an exercise video," explained Michelle. "Once cocooning was finished we put in place a walking programme in the local community hall. We reached out to the older adults and agencies in our community to empower this project

SUPPORTING A HEALTHY COMMUNITY

Chief Officer, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, Michael Fitzgerald presents the team at Turners Cross Day Care Centre in Cork with their award.

so that it would reach as many older adults as possible as quickly as we could. Our community partners were integral in the fast response and in its success. The impact of this project is still ongoing but what we do know is that 200,000 copies of the exercise programme were distributed, 420,000 people were able to access this through national TV, 500,000 were also able to access it through YouTube."

EXCEEDING EXPECTIONS WINNERS

There were an unprecedented number of entries for the Exceeding Expectations – Outstanding Employee Award. The selection panel chose 10 winners from across the health service, individuals nominated by their peers for their exception work and dedication. The winners were: Anne Clerkin, Radiology Services Manager South Infirmary - Victoria University Hospital; Dr Avril Beirne, Consultant Geriatrician, Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown; Dr John Connaughton, Clinical Director, Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise; Lorraine Kelly, Project Manager Housing Co-ordinator, Adult Mental Health Services, CHO 2; Majella O’Donnell, CNS - Dementia, ICTOP Sligo; Terry Boyle, surgeon, and breast care team, St James Hospital; Vania Ndoma-Egba, Paediatric Physiotherapist, Primary Care Centre, Balbriggan; Yvonne Doheny, Clinical Nurse Manager, Kilkenny Mental Health Service; Maria Lynch, Clinical Nurse Manager, Rheumatology Department, Our Lady’s Hospital, Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim; Maurice Moloney, Clinical Nurse Manager, CAMHS, CHO 2.

OPERATIONAL SERVICES INTEGRATION HSE, NAS AND DEFENCE FORCES TEAM UP TO DELIVER EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNITY TESTING

The project that won the Operational Services Integration in a COVID-19 Environment award was the COVID-19 community testing integration with the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and Defence Forces. Kenneth Stanley explained the national COVID Community Testing Team comprises nine CHO Community Testing Leads, the NAS and our partners from the Defence Forces. “The project was set up to monitor COVID testing demand across the country. Meeting three times a week, our team evaluates the data and makes decisions in a timely manner with regard to where we will deploy additional resources to support our testing across the country,” he said. “Overall this team supports the national COVID-19 effort by ensuring that we have the maximum capacity available and ensuring the tests are taken in a minimum amount of time.” The frontline staff of the NAS have been co-ordinating home testing, helping set up pop-up test sites and drive through testing facilities, and testing at residential care facilities with their swab teams. The defence forces have supported in numerous ways, from the construction of test centres and transportation of PPE, medical supplies and tests, to carrying out COVID-19 tests and manning contact tracing roles. D COM JTF Col O’Luasa and JTF BSM A/BSM Burke collecting the Operational Services Integration award on behalf of the Defence Forces.

INNOVATION IN SERVICE DELIVERY 18-MONTH WAITING LIST ELIMINATED BY COMMUNITY PROGRAMME

An initiative that eliminated a waiting list for care that had stretched up to 18 months was the winner of the Innovation in Service Delivery award. The Community Paediatric Ophthalmology waiting list initiative at the Grangegorman Primary Care Centre in CHO9 saw over 2,700 children on the list screened in just three weeks. Dr Duncan Rogers, Consultant Lead for the Grangegorman Community Ophthalmologist Service, explained the reason behind the programme. “Over the last five years, the Grangegorman Service had a waiting list of between 2,500 and 3,500 children waiting an average of 18 months. This was a real issue as within the context of children’s vision we have around a two-year period where we can intervene and stop blindness. So an 18-month average wait was something that we couldn’t continue with,” he said. “The initiative itself was, in essence, a secondary rescreen of the entire waiting list and was only made possible by previous work done by the team I had come into, integration with the directors of public health nursing and the full support of management within CHO9.” He said that the team saw 2,782 children over a three-week period. “I am delighted to say that one year on, we still do not have a waiting list. And this means that referrals are seen within six weeks if they are urgent and 12 weeks if they are routine. The amount of clinical time that has been released has allowed us to now run, to my knowledge, the only additional needs children’s ophthalmology clinic in the community in Ireland,” said Dr Rogers.

Dr Duncan Rogers accepts the Innovation in Service Delivery award on behalf of the Grangegorman Community Ophthalmologist Service. The Traveller Health Working Group are presented with their Improving Patient Experience award

IMPROVING PATIENT EXPERIENCE TRAVELLER HEALTH PROJECT ‘BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS’

The pioneering work of the Traveller Health Working Group in St Luke’s General Hospital, Carlow-Kilkenny earned the team the Improving Patient Experience award. Established almost seven years ago, the Traveller Health Working Group was the first of its kind in an acute hospital in the country and it was established as a partnership approach between hospital management and staff, members of the Travelling community, local Traveller health projects and the HSE South East Traveller Health Unit. Paula Power is the project lead and Director of Midwifery at the hospital. She explained that the group was set up based on staff feedback and patient feedback on the need to improve the patient experience for the Travelling community. Zoe Doheny, regional coordinator for Traveller Health and Traveller Mental Health Liaison Nurse, said, “The aim of the group is to improve the patient experience of members of the Travelling Community who use the hospital services and to provide the necessary training to staff to encourage them to work in a way that respects the cultural diversity of all service users.” She said that the hospital management and staff have ‘really listened to the voice of the Travelling community’. “They listened and acted on their voice and their opinion about what would make them feel more welcome in the hospital,” said Zoe.

INNOVATION IN DIGITAL EXCELLENCE

MEDICAL DEVICE TRANSFORMS CARE FOR PATIENTS WITH BALANCE ISSUES

A simple medical device has transformed rehabilitation for patients with dizziness and balance problems, earning a physiotherapy team at Beaumont Hospital the Innovation in Digital Excellence. Deirdre Murray, Clinical Specialist Phyisotherapist in Beaumont Hospital, explained how Vertigenius has been revolutionary for her treatment of these patients, particulary during COVID-19. “I see patients who had dizziness and balance problems for vestibular rehabilitation. During COVID-19 we weren’t able to see our patients for the regular review and for progression of exercises that they normally require. And so we collaborated with Dr Dara Meldrum from Trinity College Dublin who had been working on Vertigenius,” she said. “We hope we will be able to use this technology going forward to improve the efficiency of the care that we provide for these patients with the vestibular issues.” Vertigenius is a medical device that uses smart technology to assess balance, dynamic visual acuity and gait speed to rehabilitate patients with balance disorders more effectively. “When you have a vestibular problem, you don’t like moving your head because it makes you feel dizzy, anxious and fearful. What we do is we try to get patients moving their heads again. So we’ve developed a sensor that can track the head movement during exercise and we can also track symptoms. The sensor talks to an app which a patient downloads from the app store,” said Dr Meldrum. “In the app, they get their exercise programme. They can see how to do it, and it also tracks what they’re doing through the head sensor. All this information gets fed back into Beaumont Hospital into a clinician portal which is GDPR compliant and very secure. And the therapist can then see how the patient is doing and remotely prescribe a changed exercise programme if necessary. It’s really cutting down the amount of time that a patient has to come to hospital, which is really valuable during COVID times, but it also saves the therapist time. They can just press a button and see how the patient is doing and send the patient exercises.”