Dear Colleagues,

I hope this newsletter finds you all well in these unprecedented and challenging times. As I reflect on the past few months, my overwhelming feeling is one of pride in the health services in Ireland, our national leadership and how the whole workforce has pulled together to meet the needs of our population. I am, of course, immense-ly proud of all HSCP, so many of whom have stepped out of comfort zones, been deployed to new areas and duties, had to take on the challenges of PPE, telehealth and lots more.

Of all the things we were thinking about when we engaged in the strategic frame-work development work with you last year, planning for a pandemic was not one of them. While COVID related work has naturally taken priority in the past few months, the framework will be completed and launched later in the year. What has been striking, and reassuring, is the extent to which key themes around collaboration, focus on community, technology and tele-health have not only been amplified in the current situation, but have either come into greater focus or been accelerated. It has been interesting to link with col-leagues internationally and learn of similar experiences as well as sharing information and learning.

In the past months, we have been working with colleagues in HR around Be on Call for Ireland, with CORU, the HSCP regulator, and with the Department of Health. That work has covered a range of issues includ-ing the challenges of students completing practice placements so they can graduate and register. Following this work, oppor-tunities have arisen for employment of radiography and medical science students to meet demands.

We are delighted to welcome them into the workforce. We are most grateful for the engagement and support of profes-sional bodies and education providers in looking at student issues as well as poten-tial for upskilling of staff where needed.

We are very aware that there will contin-ue to be significant challenges around providing placements for HSCP students. We are mindful that suspension of place-ments for all years in programmes has created significant backlogs of hours re-quired for graduation and registration in many professions. One of our collective challenges in the months ahead will be to find ways to enable the practice place-ments needed so that future cohorts of HSCP will be able to graduate, register and hopefully join our workforce.

We are very appreciative of everyone who assisted us in gathering information to support modelling for staffing needs and to create a HSCP work prioritisation guidance that has fed into the decision making process and planning of return of high priority services nationally. As things evolve and we prepare to come out of the restrictions, we are moving into a new normal rather than a return to normal.

This brings opportunities as well as chal-lenges. It is clear that both what we deliver and how we deliver services will change. We will all need to think differ-ently about how we go about our work, from delivery of services, to upskilling to supporting student practice placement.

We hope you will find the updates in this newsletter useful, this time we have opted for a slimmed down version. As always, do please keep in touch and con-tact us at HSCP.nationaloffice@hse.ie if you would like us to add you to our circulation list.

HSCP Lead Message for HSCP Staff

National HSCP Office Newsletter

J U L Y 2 0 2 0 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 7

Welcome to Issue 7 of the National Health and Social Care Professions (HSCP) Office Newsletter. The

National HSCP Office, established in 2017, is positioned in the HSE’s Office of the Chief Clinical Officer.

Until our next communication, I hope that you and your families stay safe and well and make sure to attend to your own health and well-being as well as your patients and clients. Thank you for all that you do every day.

Jackie Reed, National Lead,

National HSCP Office

IN THIS ISSUE:

01 HSCP LEAD MESSAGE

02 COVID: TELEHEALTH

02 HSCP DAY

03 COVID: HSCP SHARE BLOG

03 COVID: HSCP RESPOSITORY

04 IDDSI

04 RESEARCH SEED FUND

P A G E 2

HSCP Contributing to National Telehealth Steering Group

In response to COVID-

19, a Telehealth Steer-

ing Group Committee

was stood up by the

Integrated National

Operations Hub. In

April, Dr. Heather Cro-

nin, D.Clin.Psych., Na-

tional Rehabilitation Hospital, Clinical and HSCP Lead CMS-

SCS was re-deployed part-time as the National HSCP Office

representative. Alongside colleagues from the HSE Office of

the Chief Information Officer, Nursing & Midwifery and

Medical representatives, collaborative efforts have focused

on the role for Telehealth solutions to meet some of the

immediate COVID-19 related needs emerging across all

clinical disciplines and clinical care areas.

As the HSCP Telehealth Steering Group representative,

access to the National HSCP Office eHealth Advisory Group

members was a key success factor in this role. This con-

nection meant that a strong professional network of HSCP

Digital Leaders was on-hand to provide subject matter

expertise and discuss lessons learned from HSCPs on-the-

ground experiences of rapid adoption of Telehealth solu-

tions. Collaboration with the HSCP eHealth Advisory Group

has strengthened the HSCP representative voice at the

Steering Group. For example, the inclusion of Meabh

Smith, as the Clinical Engineering representative has added

significant value to the work of the Steering Group in rela-

tion to medical devices and remote monitoring.

Clear opportunities exist for HSCPs to build on the immedi-

ate COVID-19 adoption of Telehealth solutions towards a

future vision of sustainable delivery of virtual health. Right

now, for many HSCPs, Telehealth holds potential to

continue to help minimise physical contacts and optimise

resumption of services.

However, Telehealth implementations can present challe-

HSCP Day 2020 was celebrated on 4th March. The theme

this year was HSCP innovate, integrate and deliver and was

chosen from the feedback captured at the HSCP Strategy

Planning Workshop which reflected key messages from

HSCP in frontline services.

Over the years, the enthusiasm shown by all staff in organis-

ing events, showcasing their work and sharing with other

colleagues has been immense. The locations hosting events

continues to build, with 62 HSCP teams participating from

around the country in 2020.

nges and to be successful, require clinicians on the

ground to act as a ‘clinical bridge’ to the technology.

As a HSCP, whether you are involved in progressing your

service/team’s readiness for digital, re-designing work-

flows, implementing and evaluating the change, creating

clinical protocols, refining and standardising processes, or

all of the above – Telehealth requires clinical transfor-

mation.

Implementing any health IT solution is a complex service

change that can raise many practical, clinical, technical,

organisational, and policy questions. Success requires

attention to the dynamic interaction between, ‘People,

Process and Technology’. When it comes to Telehealth,

HSCPs are well placed to act as ‘agents of change’ to en-

sure that access is equitable, implementation is person-

centred, and that evaluations expand on the available

HSCP evidence-base.

The National HSCP Office is keen to progress the HSCP

Agenda in eHealth. The National Office eHealth Advisory

Group rolled-out an online survey in March 2020 to begin

to capture what matters to HSCPs when it comes to Tele-

health. The survey findings are due to be fully published

soon. However, initial findings indicate that the top four

perceived barriers are: 1. Accessibility issues, 2. Poor Pa-

tient digital literacy, 3. Technology factors, and 4. Limited

clinical practice standards or guidelines.

COVID-19 has been a significant catalyst for Telehealth.

As we move past the immediate COVID-19 response,

there is an opportunity to build on the leap towards

digital and progress the establishment of robust and sus-

tainable HSCP led telehealth services.

By Dr. Heather Cronin

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 7

National HSCP Day 2020

HSCP Innovate, Integrate and Deliver

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 7

Introducing HSCP Share Blog

We are delighted to introduce HSCP Share, a new format for connecting Health and Social Care Professionals (HSCP) with one another, all 16,000 of us in the Health Services!

Set up by the National HSCP Office, we hope this new format will add to our existing communications, helping to share information and learning from within and outside the HSCP community.

HSCP Share has been in the planning stage for a little while and special thanks to the HSCP Communications Advisory Group and the eHealth HSCP Advisory Group for their inval-uable assistance.

You can follow the Blog by going to www.hscpshare.com and adding your email address to the ‘Follow’ box. We’re also on twitter - @WeHSCPs.

If you are interested in contributing a Blog, see Blogger Tips on the Contributors Page (www.hscpshare.com).

Submissions should be sent for review to HSCP.nationaloffice@hse.ie.

Please do follow, share and contribute –

this is your opportunity to showcase your work, its impact and to learn from others.

Share knowledge and promote organisational learning Hear points of view from HSCP and other HSCPs in practice, academia and management Assist in developing networks of practice Raise visibility of HSCP service impacts and consider opportunities for further impact Enable collective dialogue

HSCP Repository on HSELanD:

A COVID Response

In March, in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic, the

National HSCP Office sought

feedback from HSCP on the

value of establishing a HSCP

Repository.

The aim was to gather useful

resources into a central place,

enabling a sharing of

information throughout the HSCP community and reducing

duplication of effort for all.

The response was extremely positive and with the

assistance of HSCP throughout the country, phase 1 of the

Repository was developed over a three-week period in

March.

Located in the HSCP Hub on HSELanD, the Repository

comprises three sections; eHealth Resources, Clinical

Resources and Operational Documents.

Now, as the Health Services move to business

continuity planning, Repository content is being

reviewed and updated.

We welcome continued submissions from HSCP –

these resources should be directed to

HSCP.nationaloffice@hse.ie for review.

Special thanks to the eHealth HSCP Advisory Group

and all HSCP who have contributed to this

iterative development to date.

P A G E 4

International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI)

Implementation of the IDDSI Framework contin-

ues across the country. In response to increased

demand for online learning resources for dyspha-

gia, the National HSCP Office is supporting the

updating of two eLearning modules on

HSELand.ie.

The ‘Irish Consistency Descriptors for Modified

Fluids and Food’ module is being replaced with

‘Introduction to the International Dysphagia

Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI)-Framework’. In

addition, the ‘Managing Feeding, Eating, Drinking

and Swallowing (FEDS) in People with Intellectual

Disabilities’ module is being updated.

Sincere thanks to IASLT and INDI for their support

in updating the former module and to the SLT

department in Stewarts Care for leading the up-

date on the FEDS module.

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 7

Winner of the National HSCP Office

Research Seed Fund Award

The National HSCP Office Research Seed Fund was set up to support small scale research such as exploratory pilot study, development of proof of concept or a networking event that may lead to a research study.

In March, the HSCP Research Group was delighted to congratulate the winners, a collaboration between South East Community Healthcare (SECH) and Designcore, IT Car-low.

This project team consists of Emer Finn, Occupational Thera-

pist, Kate O’Connor, Self-management Support Coordinator

& Dietitian, Dr. Olga Cleary, Business Manager Health & Well-

being, Dr. PJ White, Research Director and Lecturer Design-

Core IT Carlow and Dr. Brian Casey, Lecturer DesignCore IT

Carlow.

The HSCP Research Group would like to thank all the applicants. The reviewing team had a tough task in selecting the winner. Learning and outputs from the winning project will be shared in due course.

‘HSCP INFO - Establishment of a co-design meth-

odology to define HSCP information needs for

integrated care provision in SECH to ensure effec-

tive and efficient person-centred healthcare

practices can be supported in our community.

We acknowledge the input of members of the National

Working Group for Changes in Dysphagia Management

and subgroups for reviewing the modules at key stages.

We would also like to acknowledge ONMSD for co-

funding the updating of the FEDS module

HSE IDDSI Implementation Pack

The HSE IDDSI Implementation pack is avail-

able for staff on the Share Centre on

HSELanD.ie.

This pack includes: multidisciplinary staff train-

ing needs assessment planner; educational and

training webinars; generic implementation

plan; generic communications and practical

resources to supplement implementation.