Leading an innovative approach to prevention, community care and integration of care in Ireland – Online Workshop at ICIC22
Sláintecare Department of Health & HSE in association with IFIC Ireland as part of 22nd International Conference on Integrated Care
The Sláintecare Action Plan 2019 established the building blocks for a significant shift in the way in which health services are delivered in Ireland, seeking to deliver on the Future of Healthcare Committee’s vison of a health system in which care is provided in the right place, at the right time, by the right person. Budget 2019 provided €20 million for the establishment of a ring-fenced Sláintecare Integration Fund to test and scale how services can best be delivered. The Fund received submissions with a focus on prevention, community care and integration of care across all health and social care settings.
The selected projects needed to:
- Promote the engagement and empowerment of citizens in the care of their own health
- Scale and share examples of best practice and processes for chronic disease management and care of older people
- Encourage innovations in the shift of care to the community or provide hospital avoidance measures
This workshop organised in partnership with HSE & IFIC Ireland reflected on this innovative approach to testing and piloting new ways of working and new models of care that shifted care from the hospital to the community and focused on prevention.
The workshop heard from Muriel Farrell, Sláintecare who shared how the integration fund was implemented, how it worked, what were the outcomes and gave a look ahead to what happens next.
Dr Orlaith Reilly, National Clinical Adviser and Group Lead for Chronic Disease HSE gave an overview of the implementation of the National Framework for the Integrated Prevention and Management of Chronic Disease in Ireland. The Integrated Care Programme is a research evidence-based programme and it is focused on Cardiovascular Disease, COPD, Type 2 Diabetes and Asthma.
We then heard from three projects funded through the Sláintecare Integration Fund, which have been mainstreamed and they each shared details about their projects, the benefits to patients, challenges and opportunities that were presented along the way. It was great to hear directly from patients who are benefiting from these innovative projects.
Sharon Moran, CNS Headache Disorders at Tallaght University Hospital and Elaine Lillis, Superintentent Pharmacists at Meaghers Community Pharmacy spoke about the Sláintecare Towards Self-Care in Headache project. Elizabeth O Neill, CNS Vascular Tallaght University Hospital and Eithne Crowley, Community Registered Nurse HSE spoke about the Sláintecare Leg Ulcer Project at Tallaght University Hospital and Maeve McKeon, HSE Self-Management Support Co-ordinator for Chronic Disease spoke about the Living Well Self-Management Programme which is being mainstreamed across six Community Healthcare Areas.
As the Sláintecare Integration Fund moves to the next phase this was a great opportunity to share lessons learned, ask questions and find out how we can continue to drive innovation and provide world class services in the delivery of health and care across Ireland.
Learn more about the Sláintecare programme.