Ceremony Held To Celebrate Recognition Given To Wicklow's HSE Services.

HSE Community Healthcare East had a ‘Category Finalist’ and a ‘Highly Commended Project’ at national level.

HSE Community Healthcare East (which provides community healthcare services to the Wicklow, Dublin South and Dublin South East areas), recently showcased and celebrated two local projects that gained national recognition at the 2022 Health Service Excellence Awards. A local ceremony was held in the Glenview Hotel, Co. Wicklow to recognise this achievement and present the winning teams with their certificates.

Speaking at the national event, which took place in September, Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly said: 

“The projects shortlisted and the category winners of the annual HSE Excellence Awards are great examples of the work that happens every day across our health service. Congratulations to all involved and many thanks for your commitment to improving services in both a patient-centred, innovative way.”

HSE Community Healthcare East had a ‘Category Finalist’ and a ‘Highly Commended Project’ at national level, from Mental Health Services and Primary Care respectively.

At the local ceremony today, Martina Queally, Chief Officer, HSE Community Healthcare East, congratulated the local nominees on their success: 

“Community healthcare services have benefited from increased investment in recent years to facilitate the roll out of the Enhanced Community Care Programme. These two Wicklow-based projects are prime examples of how this programme works in action. They involve integrating systems and services across various healthcare disciplines, ultimately for the benefit of our service users. I wish to congratulate these teams on being shortlisted for a Health Service Excellence Award. It is clear that a huge body of work has gone into bringing these projects to fruition and this recognition is well deserved.”

The ‘Highly Commended Project’ in the Excellence in Quality & Patient Safety category involved the introduction of an electronic GP referral system.

Dawn Tyner, Community Healthcare Network Manager for North Wicklow explained where the inspiration from the project came from: 

“In 2019, stakeholder engagement sessions identified that a myriad of referral pathways between GPs and Primary Care services existed which often lead to confusion and administrative inefficiencies. The inspiration for this project came from the response to COVID-19 and the use of Healthlink system for COVID-19 testing and referrals to community assessments hubs. We realised that this system could also be utilised to help link multidisciplinary primary care teams with GPs. The result is a streamlined, single referral method and robust communication pathway between GPs and Primary Care Services. This not only maximises the efficiency for patients but also reduces administrative time and reduces the margin for error.”

Electronic referrals via Healthlink are now accepted for Social Work, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Adult Speech and Language Therapy and Podiatary, with Nursing due to follow.

In addition, The PARC Project, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner initiative supported by the Bray Community Mental Health Team, was named a ‘Category Finalist’ in the Innovation in Service Delivery category. This category recognises projects that implement a solution to make services better, demonstrating efficiency, sustainability and value for money.

The PARC Project (which stands for Positive Advanced Recovery Connections) provides a bridging service between primary and secondary care with the introduction of Registered Mental Health Advanced Nurse Practitioner (RANP) specialist clinics. These clinics are supported by a Consultant Psychiatrist and the community Mental Health team. The PARC pilot started on the Bray Community Mental Health Team in 2019 with the aim of reducing waiting times for assessment and psychosocial interventions for people with mild to moderate mental health disorders. Under the PARC model of care, anyone referred to the RANP specialised clinics benefits from quick access to a psychosocial assessment as well as mental health nursing interventions and community supports.

Ann Cunningham, the Mental Health Advanced Nurse Practitioner comments: 

“We know, quantitatively and qualitatively, that these specialist psychosocial interventions really work. The PARC Project pilot resulted in virtually no waiting times for psychiatric assessment or psychosocial assessment with most people referred to the service being seen within a week. In addition, 60% of patients recovered, 28% improved and 12% remained the same but reported that they benefitted from having a safe place to talk. This in turn helps to reduce admission to hospital and provides a high standard of mental health support and in the community, close to people’s homes”.

People can be referred to the PARC Project for an assessment with an Advanced Nurse Practitioner via a Bray-based GP.