HSE Technology and Transformation Committee meeting minutes 1 December 2023

Members Present

Tim Hynes (Chair), Fergus O’Kelly, Martin McCormack, Rosaleen Killalea, Derick Mitchell, Brendan Whelan, Barry Lowry.

Apologies

Grace Rothwell.

HSE Executive Attendance

Fran Thompson (Chief Information Officer), John Ward (Interim Chief Technology Transformation Officer), Michael Redmond (Chief Operating Office eHealth), Niamh Drew (Deputy Corporate Secretary), Rebecca Kennedy (Office of the Board).

Joined the Meeting

Patrick Lynch (Interim Chief Strategy Officer - Item 5).

Minutes reflect the order in which items were considered and are numbered in accordance with the original agenda. All performance/activity data used in this document refers to the latest information available at the time.

The Committee held a private session to review the agenda, the relevant papers and approach to conducting the meeting, noting that the focus of the meeting would be to receive updates on key items and to suggest relevant actions as they became apparent.

The Committee thanked the CTTO and the CIO for the invite to the ‘Better Together for Digital Healthcare’ conference in the Convention Centre, Dublin. The Committee welcomed the opportunity to attend the plenary session from 09:00-11:00 and were supportive of the initiatives showcased.

2.1 Declarations of Interest

No conflicts of interest were declared.

2.2 Minutes

The Committee approved the minutes of:

• 6 October 2023

2.3 Digital Health Strategy Prioritisation Framework for Transformation

The Chair and D Mitchell updated the Committee on their engagement with the DoH in relation to the development of the Digital Health Strategy Prioritisation Framework for Transformation.

3.1 Score Card 14 - eHealth

The Committee discussed the eHealth section of the BSS which was circulated in advance of the meeting. This section’s Scorecard Ambition Statement 2023 is to enable transformation of patient care by: (i) implementing the 2023 eHealth NSP and ICT Capital Plan; (ii) delivering a Digital Health Strategy; (iii) delivering Forensics Mental Health CMS; (vi) delivering a GP Lab eOrdering system; (v) rolling out the Children's Disabilities system to 91 community teams; (vi) delivery of IPMS to Community sites; (vii) protecting the HSE ICT estate from cyber-attacks; and (viii) delivering a modern desktop experience.

A discussion was held with regards to the BSS and whether the score card in its current format was meeting its objectives. The Chair informed the Committee that the Board would be conducting a review of the score card at its meeting in December and that he would take on board their comments and relay them to the Board at that meeting noting that the KPIs used in this section do not currently show sufficient linkage to action.

The Committee discussed how the ongoing FORSA industrial action is impacting on data provided in the BSS.

4.1 ICT Capital Plan 2024

The CIO and CTTO updated the Committee on the development of the ICT Capital Plan 2024. The HSE annual eHealth & ICT Capital Plan is prepared by the eHealth function in conjunction with the Services taking account of contractual commitments, investment priorities and funding available. This plan is provided alongside the National Service Plan in response to the Letter of Determination from the Minister of Health.

M Redmond highlighted that in 2024, capital investment in eHealth & ICT is €155m which represents an increase of €15m (10.7%) on 2023 base capital funding. There is additional non-core holdback Cyber funding of €55m from which a proportion is assigned to address foundational technology investment that pose a cyber-risk.

The Committee discussed the combination of Capital and Revenue funding sources seen in some programmes. It was agreed that the Committee would receive an update on the financing of the ICT Capital Plan in early Q2 2024 and ARC members should be invited to attend. The Committee were advised that the approach this year is that ICT Capital Plan has been aligned to the draft Digital Health Strategic Implementation Plan (“DHSIP”).

The plan is presented through the perspective of the 1 vision, 6 principles nd 48 initiatives of the DHSIP and this approach has been encouraged by the DOH. The Committee discussed each of the principles presented and welcomed in particular the inclusion of the ‘Patient as an Empowered Partner’ as a principle. The Committee also focused discussion on the principle of ‘Digitally Enabled Workforce and Workplace’ and it was agreed that a presentation on eHealth Training and building trust among staff would be brought to the Committee in late January 2024.

The Committee thanked the CIO, CTTO and M Redmond for the presentation and recommended the draft ICT Capital Plan go to the Board for review as part of the National Service Plan 2024 process.

Interim CSO joined the meeting

The CSO updated the Committee on the Prioritisation Framework for Transformation which was developed by the T&T Committee and finalised by the Board at its May 2023 meeting. The CEO advised the Board in July that across the range of all change programmes the document developed by the Board at their May meeting (Strategy Day) is considered a framework for prioritisation and that the document is now finalised for use as a management tool.

The CSO confirmed that the Framework has been used as a support tool to identify priority service developments (most benefit/most impact). In preparing the National Service Plan 2024 and in light of the requirement to plan for an affordable workforce, while at the same time ensuring critical development priorities were progressed, the Prioritisation Framework was used to focus on the posts and therefore the operational and transformation programmes that will be reflected in the NSP 2024, subject to agreement with the Department of Health.

The Committee discussed the next steps for further development of the Framework and how it should be maintained. It was agreed that the Chair, CTTO and CSO would meet to discuss this further and ensure that the Framework’s development has a clear trajectory.

Nothing was raised under this item.

The meeting concluded at 13:45