In this insight, Lorna Kerin reflects on representing HSE Dublin and South East at ICIC26, exploring how global learning on integrated care, patient partnership and person-shaped services can inform meaningful local action in Ireland.
Returning from the 2026 International Conference on Integrated Care (ICIC26) in Birmingham, the overwhelming sentiment among the 1,000 delegates from 55 countries was clear: the global move toward person-centred, integrated care is no longer just a vision – it is an operational necessity. Representing the HSE Dublin and South East region, I found the exchange of research and practice both energising and deeply relevant to our current journey in Ireland.
Ireland on the global stage
A significant highlight was the visibility of Irish leadership, with Martina Queally, Regional Executive Officer (REO), on the international leadership panel opening the conference plenary. Her contribution marked a pivotal moment as Ireland’s restructured six Health Regions are ‘stood up’ to deliver integrated acute and community services throughout the Republic of Ireland. Martina’s advice to ‘label our luggage and bring the good stuff with us’ during this time of significant change served as a reminder to protect what works, respect staff commitment, and build new teams on established foundations.
This theme of shared responsibility was expanded upon by Professor Áine Carroll, founder of the Irish Integrated Care Foundation. She spoke of our ‘radical interdependence’, suggesting that progress hinges on our ability to work across boundaries and disciplines. In an increasingly fragmented world, her call to join the ‘team of us’ is a blueprint for the cultural shift required in integrated care.
Amplifying the ‘seldom listened to’
International delegates were particularly moved by the contributions of Irish patient partner Stacey Grealis. She challenged systems to create flexibility for those she termed the ‘seldom asked and seldom listened to’. This perspective is central to our work in the Dublin and South East region, ensuring that ‘integration’ is not just a management term, but a lived reality to improve health and care for the most vulnerable populations.
I had the opportunity to lead a workshop alongside the five other Regional Leads for Patient and Service User Engagement. I shared findings from regional consultations that are now shaping our new regional health structures. Using the ‘Ketso’ interactive toolkit, we explored the universal challenges of moving beyond ‘tick-box’ engagement toward genuine partnership. It was striking to see how health and care leaders worldwide are navigating the same challenges in patient involvement at different points on the maturity curve.
Innovation rooted in place
The Dublin and South East region also contributed to the international dialogue on primary care innovation. I presented research from a participatory collaboration involving local universities, primary care services, and community partners in an inner-city area of significant social disadvantage.
By combining census data with stakeholder consultations, we co-created solutions to specific barriers to access. International delegates were particularly interested in this model – not just for the findings, but for the methodology: collaborative, data-informed, and grounded in lived experience.
From person-centred to person-shaped
A recurring challenge discussed at ICIC26 was the ‘implementation gap’ – the distance between policy and practice. Sessions led by Professor Jon Glasby and Dr Niamh Lennox-Chugani urged us to stop focusing on service boundaries and start focusing on communities.
Perhaps the most powerful concept to emerge was the shift from ‘person-centred’ to ‘person-shaped’ care. While ‘person-centred’ care can still leave professionals in control of the compass, ‘person-shaped’ care recognises communities as equal partners who shape the design and delivery of services.
Moving forward
As the HSE Dublin and South East region continues to develop, the lessons from Birmingham are clear: integrated care thrives when relationships come first. By having the courage to shape our systems around people – rather than forcing people to fit into our systems – we can use the knowledge gained through global conversations and implement it through partnership into meaningful local action.
Biography:
Lorna Kerin was appointed to the inaugural position of Regional Lead for Patient and Service User Engagement for HSE Dublin and South East in September 2025. Specialising in participatory research methods, she focuses on co-designing health services alongside patients, service providers and communities to ensure lived experience and data-informed partnership drive systemic change.
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