IFIC Ireland Making Integrated Care Happen Webinar Series

Tuesday, 18 February 2PM GMT
Social prescribing, sometimes referred to as community referral, is a means of enabling GPs, nurses and other primary care professionals to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services. Recognising that people’s health is determined primarily by a range of social, economic and environmental factors, social prescribing seeks to address people’s needs in a holistic way. It also aims to support individuals to take greater control of their own health.
The Mid and East Antrim AgeWell Partnership employs a community development approach in improving the health and well being of older people. Project co-ordinator, Deirdre McCloskey, will speak with us about the IMPACTAgewell® program that aims to improve quality of life for older people by connecting them to their community. It goes beyond the traditional signposting model, instead building in a funding stream to actually invest in the community-based, often volunteer-led, organisations which deliver these services (commonly referred to as ‘social prescriptions’) such as befriending, transport, luncheon clubs and handyperson services.
The role of the link worker in primary practice in facilitating social referrals and understanding community resources and groups that can support those in need of increased social contact is explored by Dr Darach Ó Ciardha. He will outline the benefits experienced to date by his patients and practice through the social prescribing program operating at Jobstown and Tallaght Cross practice.
Download Karen O’ Connell’s Presentation (Including Reading List and Q&A)
Download Deirdre McCloskey’s  Presentation
Download Darach Ó Ciardha’s Presentation

Tuesday March 10th 2PM GMT
IFIC Ireland and the Irish Hospice Foundation are delighted to partner on the second webinar in our 2020 series focussed on Palliative and End-of-Life Care in Ireland. Rebecca Lloyd, Public Engagement Officer for the Irish Hospice Foundation will speak about the importance of Advance Care Planning and the Think Ahead programme operated by the Irish Hospice Foundation which enables individuals to think and plan ahead for their end of life care.
It is estimated that 90% of care in the last year of life is provided by the GP and Primary Care Team in Ireland . Primary Palliative care is palliative care practised by community based health care workers such as GPS, Practice Nurses, Community Nurses and Public Health Nurses. Dr Paul Gregan, chair of the Steering Committee for Primary Palliative Care of the Irish Hospice Foundation will speak about the vital role played by primary care providers and clinicians in Ireland to those in need of palliation approaching the end of their life.
Download Karen O’ Connell’s Presentation (Including reading list and Q&A)
Download Dr. Paul Gregan’s Presentation
Download Rebecca Llyod’s Presentation

Tuesday, 11 August 2PM IST
Inclusion health is a service, research, and policy agenda that aims to prevent and redress health and social inequities among the most vulnerable and excluded populations. Addressing social inequalities to ensure the best health outcomes for populations at risk at the earliest possible point of intervention can help to benefit lifelong health.
Dr Sharon Lambert will outline how childhood traumatic events can impact on health outcomes throughout life. The need to design services for appropriate delivery for individuals handling trauma and the impacts of stressful and traumatic circumstances will also be explored. Prof Clíona Ní Cheallaigh will speak about her work on improving access to healthcare for some of Ireland’s most vulnerable and socially excluded populations and how integration of services should address social inclusion at its core.
Download Sharon Lambert’s Presentation
Download Clíona Ní Cheallaigh Presentation

Wednesday, 7 October 3:30PM IST
The capacity of local communities to deal with public health issues and care needs of community members over their life course depends both on the ability of communities to define and organise themselves, and on the extent to which local, regional and national actors are willing to work together to foster community-driven care and invest in placebased initiatives. Social or community capital needs to be built at a local level to ensure that policies are drawn up and owned by those most affected and are shaped by their experiences. The starting point needs to be what is strong in people’s lives and in communities, not what is wrong. Asset-based community development approaches have been found to support silo-ed services to work in a much more integrated and collaborative way with communities and each other. This is what we call Integrated Community Care – a wide range of asset or strength based practices that share the common aim of improving the quality of care and quality of life for individuals, families and communities with an understanding that this can only be achieved through co-productive partnerships and intersectoral and interdisciplinary collaborations. Crucial to success is a shift to genuine ‘co-production’ with people and communities.” – Realising the True Value of Integrated Care: Beyond Covid-19 (International Foundation for Integrated Care, 2020)
On Wednesday October 7^th, as part of IFIC Ireland’s 2020 webinar series Making Integrated Care Happen, Cormac Russell and Michelle Nelson will discuss the opportunities and challenges now presented to realising Integrated Community Care based on community strength, co-production and intersectoral working throughout our communities, organisations, and systems.
Michelle Nelson of Sinai Health System and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto will speak about the important role that volunteers and third sector groups play as partners in delivering integrated care. Voluncaring is the work or practice of volunteers or non-statutory organizations as partners in the delivery of health programs and services. Today’s volunteers are more diverse than ever – ranging from teenagers to retirees, coming from a variety of backgrounds and bringing a multitude of professional and life experiences.  What they have in common is the desire to help others. In health services, volunteers are an often under-recognized or underutilized resource that can help to meet patient and family needs. The term Voluncaring reflects people’s motivations for volunteering, the care work that many volunteers do, and the benefits derived by patients, families, clinicians and organizations.
Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) challenges the traditional deficit-based approach that tries to solve urban and rural development problems by focusing on the needs and deficiencies of individuals, neighbourhoods, towns, villages, etc. ABCD demonstrates that local assets (people, physical assets etc.) and individual strengths are key to ensure sustainable community development, and that people have a life of their own choosing. Cormac Russell of Nurture Development will provide an overview of the ABCD approach and how a strengths-based approach can benefit integration care programs.

Wednesday, 25 November 2:00PM GMT
Our next session in our 2020 webinar series will focus on rehabilitation care and how various initiatives in Ireland are enhancing the experience of integrated care for patients, informal caregivers and health care professionals. Edina O’Driscoll, Managed Clinical Rehabilitation Network Project Manager, HSE will speak about The Rehab Landscape in Ireland: A journey towards change on the rollout of the National Clinical Programme for Rehabilitation Medicine across Ireland. We will also hear from Fiona Steed, Group Lead Allied Health at UL Hospital Group on the development and evolution of the Intermediate Care Facility at UL Arena initially deployed as part of the response to the Covid 19 pandemic and has evolved to deliver further service to the population of the mid-west of Ireland.
Download Edina O’ Driscoll’s Presentation
Download Fiona Steed’s Presentation

Wednesday, 02 December 2:00PM GMT
The last session in our series will focus on the medium and long term impacts of Covid-19 on the person and the implications for health and social care delivery.
We will be joined by Prof Lynne Turner-Stokes, Department of Palliative Care, Policy and Rehabilitation @ King’s College London and Northwick Park Hospital will present on Rehabilitation for the Long term effects of Covid-19 presenting research and clinical understanding of how Covid-19 may continue to impact those diagnosed long after the initial course of the disease. Anne O’Connor, HSE Chief Operations Officer, will outline how the HSE are adapting service delivery and provision in the context of Covid and how these service adaptations will impact the future of HSE services.