NCHD app – success for team

NCHD winners

UL Hospitals NCHD Leads take gold and silver in NCHD National Project Competition

NCHD Leads at UL Hospitals Group almost swept the boards at the NCHD National Project Competition in June, taking first and second place.

Taking the top spot was the project submitted by Dr Therese Martin, ‘Creation and Launch of the Staff Application for NCHDs working in UL Hospitals Group’.

In runner-up position was the project submitted by Dr Berbie Byrne, ‘Establishment of the Inaugural NCHD Conference for UL Hospitals Group’.

Flying the flag for the Midlands Regional Hospital, Portlaoise, was third-placed Dr John McCormick, Lead NCHD, for his project, ‘Completed audit cycle on ERT use in Portlaoise Hospital’.

Chief Academic Officer for UL Hospitals Group, Professor Paul Burke, extended his wholehearted congratulations to all NCHD leads in the Group, and particularly to Dr Martin and Dr Byrne for taking two of the top three prizes in the competition.

“This has been an extraordinary year of challenge for all healthcare workers, and the NCHDs have been at the forefront of these challenges on a daily basis. To have the resourcefulness and foresight to bring about the two outstanding initiatives that led to these awards, is a huge testament to these individual award winners and all those who supported them,” Prof Burke said.

He added that Dr John McManus, the Clinical Training Lead at UL Hospitals Group, deserved particular thanks for his strong encouragement of the development of the NCHD App.

“This is a huge advance and will serve to fulfil many of the support requirements outlined in the recent Medical Council review of our training structures in the Hospitals Group. John was also hugely encouraging when the idea of the conference was proposed to him by

The team that led out on the NCHD App: Dr John McManus, Dr Stephen Murphy , Dr Therese Martin, Dr Sean Rooney, Dr Jamie Halpin, Andrew Cowpar Appiercom, Dr Berbie Byrne, with Declan Hayes (Appiercom), and Majella Hogan (Medical Manpower).

The new NCHD App will become an invaluable source of information and support for NCHDs in UL Hospitals Group Berbie and her colleagues. We are already looking forward to next year!” he said.

The virtual conference proposed by Dr Berbie Byrne aimed to help NCHDs enhance their research experience, and the event was held during May in the CERC building at University Hospital Limerick. It was the first such NCHD virtual conference nationally and provided NCHDs with the opportunity to present their research, audit and quality improvement projects from this training year. Due to physical distancing requirements, all presentations were in the form of virtual posters, in a cross-faculty conference incorporating Medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics, Anaesthetics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Radiology, Orthopaedics and Emergency Medicine, with prizes for best poster presentation in each department.

The new NCHD App was launched earlier this year, and contains a huge amount of information including sections dedicated to each speciality as well as a digital edition of the Intern Handbook. In addition, the app will provide NCHDs with information on health and wellbeing, human resources, and training and education.