HSE Spark Summit to showcase innovation across the health sector

A national event – the HSE Spark Summit – taking place tomorrow will showcase how innovation and ‘Human Centred Design’ are being used across the health service to improve patient and clinician experience, achieve better health outcomes, reduce the cost of care and address waiting lists. The HSE Spark Summit is organised annually by the HSE Spark Innovation Programme and seeks to benefit patients through frontline, staff-led innovation initiatives.

Jared Gormly, Head of Corporate Services NDTP & Spark Innovation Programme, HSE said: “Continued innovation within the health service is essential. It is particularly important in areas such as waiting lists, better patient outcomes and the use of resources wisely, among other things. I want to thank our colleagues for their continued dedication in finding and implementing better ways of delivering healthcare to the people of Ireland.”

Caitriona Heffernan, National Innovation Lead at the HSE Spark Innovation Programme, added: “We all know healthcare is facing multiple challenges, such as increasing costs, an ageing population, and evolving patient expectations. To address some of these challenges, the HSE Spark Programme supports healthcare professionals to unleash their creative and innovative potential and to develop solutions to the challenges they face every day.

“The Spark Summit event showcases how innovations including new service design, devices and process optimisations are transforming both the patient and clinician experience, leading to better health outcomes and achieving significant cost-savings for the HSE. Our summit this year will serve to demonstrate how the provision of dedicated design and innovation resources results in long-term and sustained improvements for patients, staff and the HSE.”

Innovation Projects Showcase:

Over the course of the Summit, the audience will hear from multiple innovators from across the Irish Healthcare system who have received support through the HSE Spark Programme. Projects from multiple clinical settings and from all around the country were showcased as an example of the ingenuity and problem solving abilities of healthcare staff working on the frontline. Some of the projects this year include:

MumaHubs - Led by Amy Carroll ADOM in St Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny

Muma Postnatal Hub tackles the high levels of physical and mental postpartum morbidity through a co-created, design led, structured and multidisciplinary support service for mothers, their babies, and partners.

Occupational Therapy-Led Integrated Hand and Wrist Clinic -Led by Olga Hill and Michelle O’Donnell, Specialist Occupational Therapists

This solution is a modernised care pathway, providing GP-referred patients with hand issues with direct access to specialist Occupational Therapy care and negating the need for specialist surgical services. These patients benefit from reduced waiting times, fewer unnecessary hospital attendances, and improved overall outcomes.

Home Based Ocular Perfusion - Led by Dr Brian Woods, Ophthalmology Doctor

Patients with glaucoma require an eye pressure check every 3-9 months, but measurement methods to date can sometimes miss fluctuations in eye pressure and don’t consider blood pressure which is another relevant factor. The Home-Based Ocular Perfusion Pressure (H-BOP) system developed by Dr Woods, allows patients to monitor their eye pressure and blood pressure at home frequently, providing doctors with more accurate data to optimise treatment and improve outcomes.