NATIONAL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL CAN BE ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST
European Conference hears of potential of national children’s hospital to attract leading health professionals, but is warned of ‘cultural’ challenges that lie ahead.
Ireland has a golden opportunity to create one of the world’s greatest children’s hospitals that clinicians, educationalists and researchers around the world will be attracted to, Professor Brendan Drumm, Chief Executive of the Health Service Executive, told delegates today (18 June) at Children in Hospital Ireland’s European Association for Children in Hospital 2010 conference.
Delegates from 13 European countries, Japan and Ireland assembled at Dublin Castle for the conference that showcased the most significant development in the delivery of hospital services and healthcare for children in Ireland: the new national children’s hospital. A range of distinguished national and international speakers spoke at the event.
Speaking during his presentation, Professor Drumm said: “What we have experienced in recent years in bringing three hospitals together is not unique to Ireland. There are many examples in Australia, America and UK where merging a number of hospitals has been the subject of vigorous and challenging debate. This should not be viewed as a negative reaction, but a reflection of the deep loyalty people have to their hospitals which have served their communities so well.
“Change of this magnitude is always complex, but we have come through the painful stage. We now have a golden opportunity to create what can be, if we remain focussed only on what will deliver the best results for children, one of the world’s greatest children’s hospitals. Our challenge is to create a centre of excellence that clinicians, educationalists and researchers around the world will be attracted to.”
Also speaking at the conference, Dr Eddie Molloy, Director of The Advanced Organisation, warned the hospital planners mergers of large institutions often fail because of cultural issues, as opposed to the logistical demands.
He said: “Mergers in any sector pose both cultural and technical challenges. Debates about the best way to rationalize and integrate these technical aspects are relatively easy to resolve, usually by reference to best practice in exemplar sites.
“If mergers fail for any reason, it is unlikely to be on technical grounds but rather because the merger of the legacy cultures never occurred. The psychological, cultural and other so-called ‘soft’ issues jeopardize successful integration. Long after integration ‘above the surface’, as it were, divided loyalties, a sense of grievance at who ‘won’ and ‘lost ‘ in the merger, disputes over ‘ethos’ and similar psychological, social and cultural problems linger on , flaring up from time to time and often creating tensions that are actually visible to customers/ patients.”
Other speakers at the event included:
- Mary Harney TD, Minister for Health;
- Eilísh Hardiman, National Paediatric Hospital CEO;
- Dr Morgan Jamieson, Surgeon and former Medical Director at Yorkhill Children’s Hospital, Glasgow;
- Isabella Funck-Brentano, Psychologist, Neckar Children’s Hospital, Paris;
- Dr James Levin, Children’s Medical Information Officer, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Press release issued by Michael McGlynn, CHI Communications Executive, who can be contacted at 087 9082970 or 01 8780448. Mary O’Connor, Chief Executive of Children in Hospital Ireland, is available for further comment at 086 8466861.
Notes for Editors:
- CHI is celebrating its 40thanniversary this year. The organisation advocates on behalf of sick children and their parents.
- The national charity’s trained and vetted PlayWell volunteers organise games and fun activities in 20 hospitals around the country and provide more than 40,000 hours of play in hospital each year.
- Each year in Ireland there are on average over 270,000 hospital visits by children.
- In 2007, there were 144,703 hospital admissions among children aged 0-17.
- 75,000 child inpatients are under 4 years old and almost all go through child emergency departments in Ireland.
