“The project team were energetic, enthusiastic and had significant pride in their work,” according to the HSE Excellence Awards Selection Panel in relation to a winning project from Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) and 22q11 Ireland. 

The team had undertaken “complex care coordination for paediatric patients with the rare condition 22q11 Deletion Syndrome. The project involved integrating and coordinating medical, developmental and psychosocial services to ensure holistic care for the individual.”

Key considerations for those involved included taking a multidisciplinary approach; providing individualised care planning and continuity of care; ensuring regular follow-up and care transitions; addressing psychosocial needs; advocacy; being family centred; focusing on education and ensuring there was research and innovation involved.

According to the Awards Selection Panel, the project delivered a “comprehensive, targeted and seamless pathway from initiation to implementation."

"Public patient involvement was a fundamental principle of this service and there was a specific approach to manage transition from Child Health Service Provision to Adult Services within specific timeframes to ensure smooth handover within services. The project team demonstrated excellent horizontal leadership, demonstrating team work, collaboration and shared decision making.”

Praising the award winners, HSE CEO Mr Bernard Gloster said the awards “serve as a reminder that our collective pursuit of health excellence touches many facets of people’s lives."

"They show that we must always retain our public service ethos and values in everything we do. The initiatives from all the finalists in this year’s awards demonstrate how teams in the health service can effectively collaborate on delivering valuable projects that embrace the important areas of care, culture, governance and eHealth."

HSE National Director HR, Anne Marie Hoey, added that “working in healthcare means we are all working in changing and dynamic environments. Now, more than ever, we are dependent on the experience, expertise and critical skills of our colleagues in order to deliver the best pathways and care to both our service users and patients and to support the teams with whom we all work.”

Watch the team from CHI and 22q11 Ireland describe their project