ERHA Times14.V10 12/11/03 11:58 AM Page 1
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Issue 14 - Winter 2003 (1.52Mb) Rights Eastern Regional Health Authority Download date 24/09/2021 17:17:49 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10147/43472 Find this and similar works at - http://www.lenus.ie/hse ERHA Times14.V10 12/11/03 11:58 AM Page 1 SPECIAL EDITION ON HEALTH SERVICE RESTRUCTURING ERHA TIMES www.erha.ie ISSUE 14 - winter 2003 ISSN: 1649-346X HEALTH SERVICE RE-STRUCTURING AIMS TO PROVIDE BETTER PATIENT CARE, BETTER VALUE FOR MONEY, AND BETTER MANAGEMENT By Michael Lyons, ERHA Regional Chief Executive. At a special meeting to discuss the restructuring, the ERHA Board passed the This special issue of the ERHA Times aims to explain the nuts-and-bolts of the health following motion on the Hanly Report: services restructuring programme, the most extensive re-organistion of the health system The Board of the Eastern Regional Health in over 30 years. Authority, which incorporates the Members of the East Coast Area Health Board, welcomed The 13 Action Groups will deal with a wide range This means that we will be in a position to have the adoption of the report of the National Task of issues required to establish the new structures. a significant influence on future developments Force on Medical Staffing by the Government. These range from the overall organisation and and will be in a position to assist the In particular, the Board welcomed the restructuring of the services, including the Health communications programme, which must go designation of the East Coast Area Health Board Services Executive, to financial, legal and hand in hand with current developments. as a pilot site for the implementation of this communications structures, industrial relations The supplement also provides details of the brief report. The Board welcomed the opportunities and human resources, primary care, the and membership of the independent Interim this presented to improve access for patients streamlining of agencies organisaton of hospitals, Health Services Executive announced by the to high quality acute care. the establishment of a shared services entity and The programme’s priority focus is improved Minister for Health & Children, Mr. Micheál the development of quality control. The estimated revenue and capital costs patient care, better value for taxpayers’ money Martin, T.D associated with the implementation of the and improved health care management. I am very pleased that a large number of staff Over the coming weeks and months the ERHA report were noted by the Board and it called from the ERHA, the three Area Health Boards and The supplement provides details of the Project will endeavour to keep our own Board and staff on the Minister for Health and Children to the voluntary provider agencies in the east have Office and the 13 Action Projects and their sub and the managements and staff of our provider make the funding available to the East Coast been selected to work in the Project Office and committees, which have been established to agencies as fully informed as possible of all Area Health Board to implement the necessary the Action Groups and their sub committees. progress the re-structuring programme. It lists developments. recommendations of the Report in its the membership and workplan of each group. catchment area. ALCOHOL CONFERENCE WARNED ABOUT TAOISEACH PRESENTS 'THE PROSPECT OF A BLIGHTED GENERATION' FIRST ERHA AWARDS The Chairman of the Eastern Regional Health Authority, Ald. Joe Doyle, warned about the prospect of ‘a blighted generation' because of FOR INNOVATION alcohol abuse, when he opened a conference Action on Alcohol - Everyone’s Responsibility organised by the Authority recently. IN HEALTH He also hit out at the practice of parents using Ald Doyle said that he had been deeply pubs as a social centre for children’s celebrations concerned about the abuse of alcohol for some SERVICES IN THE such as First Holy Communion or Confirmation. time and had committed himself to doing something about it during his term as Chairman EASTERN REGION The chairman called for the establishment of a of the ERHA. body to combat alcohol abuse along the lines of the Office of Tobacco Control, which he said The Eastern Regional Health Authority and the everyone agreed had done excellent work. three Area Health Boards have published a report "Alcohol Service: Developing an Integrated & "We in Ireland have a chronic alcohol problem. Enhanced Response" among people in the It is reflected in weekend binge drinking by eastern region, which was launched at The Minister for Health and Children, Mr. Micheal Martin , T.D., teenagers, many of them already addicted; in the conference. with Aifric Costello, Megan Parsons, Amy Heafer, Rebecca late night street violence; in overcrowded A&E Moloney, Lucy Hayes, Judith Uhuegbu, Aine Quigley, Saoirse Ni Units; but more importantly in the heavy drinking (Continues on page 3). Mharnain and Aoife Mc Manus, from the St. Louis Convent, Rathmines, who took part in a drama presentation during the of irresponsible parents," Alcohol Conference. TIMETABLE FOR TOTAL REDEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL ANNOUNCED The Taoiseach Mr. Bertie Ahern, T.D., presented the first awards in a major scheme by the Eastern Regional Health As the first facilities of a €50 million development of operating theatres and other amenities at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, Authority to reward initiatives that have came on stream recently, Mr Micheál Martin, T.D., Minister for Health and Children, announced a timetable for the total redevelopment of the improved health and personal social hospital and a €250,000 fund for developing a telemedicine link between Our Lady’s and a leading children’s hospital in the United States. services in the eastern region. The Derek Dockery Innovation Awards were instituted The Minister sanctioned the appointment of two maps out the schedule for the redevelopment timetable, construction on site will start in 2007 in memory of the contribution to separate design teams for the development of and was presented at a meeting between the and continue up to 2010. the health services of the late Derek the hospital and the planning of MRI facilities. Minister, senior Department officials and Meanwhile Mr. Martin has also announced the Dockery. The Taoiseach is seen here at representatives from the Group. The Chairman of the ERHA Alderman Joe Doyle allocation of €250,000 capital funding towards the award ceremony with Derek’s widow, and the New Crumlin Hospital Group, which The Minister said that the design brief for the the purchase of equipment for a telemedicine Mrs. Mary Dockery. represents parents lobbying for the complete hospital would be completed soon and the link between Our Lady's and St. Jude's Children's See pages 14 & 15 for full report redevelopment of the hospital, welcomed the Outline Control Development Plan would be Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. issuing of the timetable by the Minister. This completed by Mid-2004. According to the ERHA TIMES - page 01 ERHA Times14.V10 12/11/03 11:58 AM Page 2 CHAIRMAN CALLS FOR INDIVIDUAL RESPONSE IN COMBATING ALCOHOL ABUSE "No social class or age group has escaped the scourge that is blighting a growing number of families”, the Chairman of the Eastern Regional Health Authority, Ald. Joe Doyle said in his speech at the opening of the Conference Action on Alcohol. Ald Doyle said that blaming others is no longer an option. "We must shout STOP and mean it" he said. "In this regard, I would like At the launch of the refurbishment plan for the Meath Hospital Community Unit were, from left, Ms. Mr. Patrick Ryder, a resident of the Community Unit for Ms. Maureen Tunney, Chairperson of the Residents’ Committee, Meath Hospital Unit, meeting the to welcome the proposed changes in the licensing laws". Older Persons, Meath Hospital, with the Minister of State at Minister of Services for Older People, Mr. Ivor Callely, T.D. at the launch of the refurbishing Regina Buckely, Assistant Chief Execuitve, South Western Area Health Board; Mr. Larry Butler, Acting "In today’s world the role of the individual is crucial. Governments the Department of Health and Children, Mr. Ivor Callely, T.D. plan for the Unit. Chairman, Eastern Regional Health Authority; Mr. Ivor Callely, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of can ban alcohol advertising, introduce mandatory identity cards for Health and Children and Ms. Anne Harris, Acting Chairman, South Western Area Health Board. young people, facilitate random breath testing for motorists, close down offending establishments, and sporting organisations can review their sponsorships with Drinking Companies, but it is the MINISTER LAUNCHES €8 MILLION REFURBISHMENT PLAN FOR COMMUNITY UNIT behaviour of every citizen and the theme of today’s Conference, ‘Everyone’s Responsibility,’ which is what will make the difference, ON SITE OF OLD MEATH HOSPITAL said Ald. Doyle. The Minister for Health and Children is to be congratulated on An €8 million refurbishment plan for the Meath Hospital Community Unit for Older People, in Heytesbury Street, Dublin, was officially launched by the Minister of State at the Department of At the ERHA Conference, Action on Alcohol, were the Chairman of the Authority, Ald. Joe his efforts to control the use of tobacco. Indeed this Authority Health and Children, Mr. Ivor Callely, T.D., when he visited the hospital. Doyle, the Minister for Health and Children, Mr. Micheál Martin TD, and the Regional was unanimous in passing a resolution in support of his efforts. Chief Executive, Mr Michael Lyons. I am well aware of the good work done to date by the Office for The Chairman of the Eastern Regional Health Authority Ald. Joe Doyle, Tobacco Control. opening the conference. The Minister, who has responsibility for services Hospital.