Speakers - The HSE Patient and Public Partnership Conference

HSE Patient and Public Partnership Conference 2023 Speakers

Christine Fenton

Christine Fenton is a patient and service user living with a chronic illness. She is wholly reliant on HSE services to enable her to live in her own home.
She is a member of the HSE National Patient and Service User Forum. Her professional life was in education in England in schools in deprived areas. She was responsible for strategic and financial planning, implementation practice, staff training, curriculum development and the programmes ‘Partnership, Behaviour and Respect for All’ and ‘Assessment, Recording, Reporting, Reviewing and Achievement’.
She moved from England to Ireland, to a derelict house and farm, to indulge her passion for horses, dogs and cats. Her declining health and subsequent reliance on HSE acute and community services caused her to search for HSE standards and ‘what should be happening’ which resulted in her reading HSE documentation to try to understand ‘how our HSE works’.
She is passionate about the benefits of true partnership and the process of integrating partnership into all areas of our HSE community.

Carol Munt

An Honorary Lecturer & Doubleday Affiliate at Manchester Medical School, Care Partner and Mentor at the NHS Leadership Academy, Carol is also a member of the following NHSE/NHSI Co-Production National Advisory Group NHSE/NHSI Beneficial Changes focus group National Steering Group Maximising Leadership Learning in the pre-registration curriculum, HQIP Service User Network, Q community and she remains one of HSJ’s Top 50 Patient Leaders.
The informative and entertaining recording of her talk on Co-Production at the King’s Fund now forms part of the Open University Health & Social Care degree course.
Co-Chair of the NHS Thames Valley Patient Experience Operational Group, & sat on the board of the NHS Thames Valley Strategy Group.
She was part of the Oxford Academic Health Science Network Leading Together programme team presenting at NHS ExpoShe worked closely with Health Education Thames Valley and Reading University on the e-version of the ‘Dementia Handbook for Carers and Care Providers’ having been part of the team behind the original printed version.She was also responsible for organising the highly praised Dementia conference in Reading, a first for the CCG.
Carol has a daughter, a son and five grandsons, lives in Tunbridge Wells and lists travel, photography and meeting people as her main interests.
She is a qualified general and orthopaedic nurse.
When living in Wiltshire she set up a sportswear design business running it for several years before selling it as a going concern due to health problems.
She was elected as Maiden Bradley Parish Council Chair and one of her successes was to lead the ‘Save our Village Shop’ campaign (and to persuade DEFRA to change their funding policy).
She moved to Reading to look after her mother, becoming a full-time carer as the vascular dementia progressed.
As a result she become a Patient Partner at the Royal Berkshire Hospital recognising the need for the Dementia Handbook for Carers , for in-hospital training in Dementia care and introduced a Carer’s Passport

Joan Johnston

Joan is currently General Manager of COPD Support Ireland. Prior to joining COPD Support Ireland in 2020 she worked as a Respiratory Physiotherapist across a variety of public and private hospital settings since qualification from U.L. in 2006.
Joan is mum to Ella 7yrs and Leo 6yrs, who lives with Angelman Syndrome. Since Leo’s diagnosis in 2018, Joan has undertaken a variety of advocacy and patient partnership roles including membership of the HIQA led Children’s Reference Group (CRG) for Overarching National Standards for the Care and Support of Children using Health and Social Care Services , patient partner on the National Quality and Patient Safety Directorate Management Team and, in early 2023, was appointed as an external member with service user experience, to the HSE Board Planning and Performance Committee.
Joan has served as a Board Member of IPPOSI since 2021 and became Vice-Chair in June 2023.
Joan is passionate about the value patient partnerships can add, when utilised throughout healthcare organisational structures – from high level planning and policy to local implementation and delivery .

Jackie Reed

Jackie is the National Lead for the National HSCP Office. She was instrumental in creating the Health & Social Care Professions (HSCP) Education & Development Unit within the HSE and orchestrated and led its development, leading to the establishment of the National HSCP Office in 2017.
Jackie first qualified as a Speech & Language Therapist and subsequently worked in a variety of roles and services, in both statutory and voluntary bodies in Health and Education in Ireland and Canada. Passionate about collaborative practice for person centered integrated care, she is focused on ensuring the full value and impact of the HSCP workforce is realised in the design, delivery, planning and management of our Health Services.
Jackie has led the development and delivery of three national strategies for HSCP. HSCP Deliver – A Strategic Guidance Framework for Health & Social Care Professionals 2021 – 2026 was co-created with HSCP, service users/patients, leaders and policy makers. Reflecting the distillation of over 16,300 contributions it represents the collective wisdom and voice of stakeholders articulating the full collective potential of HSCP.
With qualifications including Human Resources, Learning & Development, Coaching, Governance and Leadership, Jackie has also served two terms as a Member of Council of CORU and was Chair of its Education Committee in the same period.

Brid Ryan

Brid Ryan is the Clinical Lead for ePharmacy in the Health Service Executive since 2021.
She is currently leading National ePrescribing Project.
Her interest in using technology and data to improve patient care developed from first-hand experience in introducing a closed loop system for the prescribing, manufacture and administration of chemotherapy in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (MMUH).

Colm Harty

Colm is a Patient and Service User Engagement Officer for CH East.
He has been in this role for just over a year and really enjoys working alongside Patient Partners while promoting and enabling partnership in his area.
He has a strong belief in the value of lived experience in Health and Social Care and I aim to promote and grow this concept through formalizing processes that value the lived experiences of people accessing Health and Social Care.

Catriona Heslin

Caitríona has worked in the public health and social care service for all of her career – initially as a Speech & Language Therapist and across a number of managerial and strategic leadership roles.
Her core expertise built up over many years of internal consultancy experience is in the area of Organisation Development. Supporting teams and services to deliver change is a core priority assisting them to translate national guidance into local action.
Caitríona is co-author (with Anne Ryan) of People’s Needs Defining Change – Health Services Change Guide.
Her current role is HSE Assistant National Director – Organisation Development & Design working with her team and colleagues to support Health Region

Winifred Ryan

Wini Ryan is the Programme Lead the National Healthcare Communication Programme.
The aim of the National Healthcare Communication Programme is to improve the experience of the people who use our services by supporting staff to take a skilled, sensitive, and person-centred approach to all healthcare conversations.

Jo Shortt

Jo took up post as Health Regions Programme Team lead in November 2022 in supporting the roll out of Health Regions as a key Sláintecare objective.
She has more than 20 years’ experience in health service management, project management and change management roles both in the UK and Irish acute healthcare systems.
Commencing her career in nursing, she holds a master’s degree in leadership, as well as qualifications in Management Studies, Project Management and Quality Improvement.
Jo is passionate about integrated healthcare and change management and feels that the Health Regions programme brings both of these aspects together in empowering our staff in delivering improved services for patients.

Zoe Hughes

Zoe Hughes is the Senior Policy & Research Officer with Care Alliance Ireland and has been in the role since January of 2015. Her role in Care Alliance involves the coordination of the organisations research and policy functions. Zoe represents Care Alliance on the HSE National Patient Forum, and on the PPI Ignite Network as a local partner with the University of Limerick. As part of this work, she wrote and published Public and Patient Involvement: A Guide for Not-for-Profit and Community Groups New to Research in 2021.
Zoe has qualifications in Social Work (MSW), Social Policy (H.Dip. Soc. Pol.) and Disability Studies (M.Litt), and her past work has included working with a number of academic and voluntary sector organisations.
She has a particular interest in the topic of diversity within caring, along with inclusive and participatory research methods.
Zoe commenced work on the Doctorate in Applied Social Studies in University College Cork in October 2017, with a focus on the broad topic of family care within the LGBTQIA+ community.

Elaine Newell

Project Lead for Enhanced Community Care for Community Healthcare West.
Previous role was Diabetes Nurse Specialist Integrated Care.
Registered as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Nurse Prescriber.
Hold a Masters in Nursing and Midwifery Education and now studying a
Diploma in Leadership and Management.
Very interested and passionate about person centred care, supporting patient/service user empowerment and engagement and facilitating self-management. Very driven to capture people’s experiences of using and delivering services and developing improvements grounded in what matters to people.

Rosemary Faherty

Rosemary is from Barna and has been a service user all of her life.
She has worked in retail, childcare and has completed a course in journalism as well as volunteering with the Citizens Information Bureau, Victim Support and Childplay at UCH Galway.
Rosemary is a qualified psychotherapist and is now a full time carer within her family as well as a service user.
She enjoys music, dance and reading.
Rosemary hopes to see improvement in the health service for those that feel their voice is not important.

Noelene Beckett-Crowe

Noelene Beckett Crowe lives with several medical conditions.
Her interests include reading, volunteering, history, genealogy, archaeology, research also studying. As a singer has performed in various choirs, pantomimes & musicals. She is a committee member of Westport Historical Society. Actively participates in Massive Open Online Courses. An established artist & crafter as a participant with Mayo Artsquad for several years hosted exhibitions & poetic performances at Feile na Tuaithe at Turlough Park.
She is the MGG representative on Mayo Public Partnership Network. (PPN)
She was a Research Collaborator with Dr. Viveka Guzman (W. I. S. E.) on the topic of Mental Health/Wellbeing of Older People during Covid 19.
She has participated in Better Together HSE Patient Engagement Project with Elaine Newell.
She is an executive member of Mayo Older People’s Council since its foundation.
As a poet/writer she contributed numerous articles to magazines, periodicals, historical journals & ezines i.e. Cathair na Mart Historical Journals, Federation of Local History Societies, Kathleen Kilbane: The Little Saint of Achill Island & The Kathleen Kilbane Story.

Lis Cotter

Lis was born and raised in Dublin but moved to beautiful Connemara four years ago.
She has lived with a chronic illness for 20 years.
Now retired, she enjoys spending time with family and friends and her many hobbies include crafting, drawing, travelling and reading.
She is also learning to speak more of our beautiful native language.

Joan Kavanagh

Joan’s background was a research assistant in the medical and nursing departments in the University of Galway. Since Joan retired, she has been a pro-active and dedicated volunteer in the community over many years across a wide range of voluntary organisations in Galway.
Joan has at all times promoted volunteerism, healthy and active ageing as she believes they benefit both the volunteer and the organisation. In 2003 she saw a need to provide information on opportunities and options open to all people in the community for volunteering. She researched and did a feasibility study on “The Need for a Galway Volunteer Advice Centre”. She presented this to both Galway City Council and Galway County Council who provided the initial funding to start the centre.
Joan co-founded the Community Theatre, Arts and Education Group called “ALA” in the east side of Galway city community.
For the last 7 years, Joan has been Chairperson of the Galway City and County Age Friendly Older Persons Council. She co-ordinated two intergenerational projects with the University of Galway post graduate students. One was a pilot study on developing initiatives for an age friendly Galway university, and the other study was developing age friendly businesses in Galway city

Elayne Pursell

Professionally Qualified Social Worker, with a First Class BA Honours Degree in Social Work from University of Chester, UK. Elayne worked in the Voluntary Sector prior to gaining her Social Work qualification.
Over the years, Elayne has worked in various Social Work Services, both across the UK and in Ireland, including hospital and community based teams within Adult Services in the UK.
In Ireland, she has predominantly worked with children and families, within Child Protection, Fostering and Children in Care teams. She has also completed a short term role within Adult Mental Health Services.
In her current role as a Primary Care Social Worker, the overall goal of our service is to support patients and service users to remain as independent within their own home and community for as long as possible and to minimise the risk of hospital admission, although not everyone we work with has a medical diagnosis / health need.
Outside of work, her interests include writing, watching movies, and kayaking.

Lorna Kerin

Lorna Kerin is Founding Director of Love Knowledge Consultancy. Her ongoing research since 2014 involves co-production initiatives with patients, clinicians and HSE Disability to inform the development of integrated health services for children and young people with the ‘most common’ of rare chromosomal disorders, 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.
Lorna also manages the Participatory Health Research (PHR) Unit in the University of Limerick, which is a lead site for the PPI Ignite Network and is the WHO Collaborating Center for PHR with refugees and migrants. Lorna was previously Manager of Public Patient Involvement in Research at RCSI University of Medical and Healthcare Sciences, where she established the RCSI PPI Ignite Network to build institutional capacity for medical and healthcare researchers to conduct meaningful PPI.
Lorna also previously led Public Patient Involvement in FutureNeuro SFI Center for Chronic and Rare Neurological Diseases where she established the first national Neurological PPI Panel and led out on the Deliberative Dialogue on Genomics to inform the implementation of national HSE policy.
Lorna Kerin has over 25 years of working in community and academic participatory health research. She is a Social Scientist, specialised in participatory health research, co-production methodologies, arts based research, and outcomes based accountability. She is also a qualified Integrative Psychotherapist and Creative Arts Therapist. She has a keen interest in implementation science and has developed multi-stakeholder county plans for area based interventions for children and young people in Dublin (Tusla Child and Family Agency) and evidence based intervention programmes in Regeneration areas of Limerick.

Anne Lawlor

Anne is the chairperson and a co-founder of 22q Ireland.
As a board member of Rare Diseases Ireland she is active in the Irish rare disease space and has a particular interest in co-creating complex care pathways with health and social care professionals.
Anne is also the current chair of the HSE Patient Forum and a member of the forum since 2015. Coupled with her own lived experience, these roles have led Anne to develop a strong belief in the benefits of patient-partnership for better health-care outcomes.
Anne holds a M.A in Management of Community and Voluntary Groups and in 2017 was the first Irish person to win a Global Genes Champion of Hope Award. The same year 22q Ireland also won a GSK Health Impact award. In 2022 she was a recipient of the International 22q Unsung hero Award and this year Anne is very proud that ‘Team 22q’ are shortlisted for an Irish Healthcare Excellence Award.
Having recently relocated from Dublin to Waterford Anne lives there with her daughter Áine who was diagnosed in 1998 at the age of 15 with 22q11 deletion syndrome.

Wesley Mulcahy

Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist at CHI in Crumlin.
Studied Social Work and has completed his Masters in Occupational Therapy in 2010 and his Masters in Advanced Clinical Practice in 2021.
Wesley has worked in Enable Ireland Disability Services, specialising in Early Intervention before transferring to acute care.
He has worked as a senior therapist on the Paediatric Neurology and Neonates teams.
He appointed the Complex Care Coordinator for children with 22q.11 DS in 2021. This is an innovative post, tasked to improve the lives of children, young people and their families living with this rare disease through a co-production framework.

Suzanne Kelleher

Dr Suzanne Kelleher is a Consultant General Paediatrician working in CHI Crumlin.
She established a national 22q Clinic in 2017 for children affected with 22q11 deletion/duplication syndrome, a rare multisystem disease that affects between 1 in 2-4000 babies.
This clinic was set up in collaboration with the parent support group 22qIreland and following establishment of the clinic and advocacy to the HSE a 22q Complex Care post was funded in 2021 to support the clinic.

Seán F. Dinneen, MD, MSc, FRCPI

Consultant Endocrinologist, Galway University Hospitals, Ireland

Professor of Diabetic Medicine, University of Galway, Ireland
Seán Dinneen is an Academic Endocrinologist based in the West of Ireland.
His professional interests include developing and evaluating programmes of self-management education and support for people living with diabetes, developing optimal models of community-based diabetes care and understanding the diabetic foot.
Past leadership roles include Head of the School of Medicine, University of Galway (2013 to 2016) and National Lead for Diabetes, HSE (2016 to 2022).
He is a current Editor with Diabetic Medicine, the journal of Diabetes UK.
In March 2021 he became National Lead for the PPI Ignite Network, aiming to increase capacity for high quality public and patient involvement in health and social care research in Ireland https://ppinetwork.ie/

Mandy Daly

Mandy is a medical and disability underwriter and a parent of a preterm infant born in 2006. She is the founder of the collaborative multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary platform, The Irish Neonatal Health Alliance
She has collaborated on several neonatal and paediatric health system reviews and clinical audits, reviewing obstetric, neonatal and bereavement clinical guidelines, developing and delivering curricula and continued education for medical, nursing, allied health professional and patient expert students, mentoring PhD students, serving on the advisory board of the PPI Ignite Network, the European Foundation For The Care Of Newborn Infants and the NIDCAP Federation International Board
She has worked as patient collaborator and embedded patient researcher on over 60 national and international research studies.
Mandy is a chair committee member of group that developed the European Standards of Care For Newborn health, is a public reviewer for the Health Research Board and the British Medical Journal Open Pediatrics, is a member of the National Office of Research Ethics Clinical Trials Committee, works with the National Clinical Trials Office Stakeholder and Management Committee and the Health Products Regulatory Authority and has published papers in several journals including the British Medical Journal, The Lancet, The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Trials.

Dr. Maria Quinlan

Dr Maria Quinlan is General Manager of the National Research & Development team within the HSE.
The HSE Research & Development function is responsible for implementing the HSE’s Action Plan for Health Research, including the reform of Research Ethics and the implementation of the HSE’s Research Governance Framework. Ensuring PPI in research is embedded at all levels of research activity within health and social care is a key aim of the HSE’s Action Plan for Health Research, and HSE Research & Development are a national partner on the PPI Ignite network.
Maria is a sociologist, whose own research has focused on the use of creative, participatory methods which aim to facilitate people in sharing their lived-experience, and which challenge traditional power structures within research. Her research is multidisciplinary, with a particular focus on the use of trauma-informed methods to explore social inclusion and equity within health and social care.
She specialises in the use of visual methods such as photovoice, and has partnered with a wide-range of health and social care organisations and advocacy groups to explore the lived of experience of mental health, health-related stigma, homelessness, addiction, sexual violence, and inequities and exclusion based on gender, race, and ethnicity.
Maria is committed to ensuring that traditionally marginalised and seldom-heard groups are more fundamentally represented within all aspects of research, and within the PPI community overall.
She is founder of Pink Flower Research, and was formerly Research Lead at the Applied Research for Connected Health centre at University College Dublin; and Head of Research at the Institute for Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Derrick Mitchell

Derick Mitchell, PhD is the Chief Executive of the Irish Platform for Patient Organisations, Science and Industry (IPPOSI – [http://www.ipposi.ie)/]www.ipposi.ie). IPPOSI is a unique, patient-led partnership between patient groups, scientists, industry, and other key decision makers, which builds consensus on issues relevant to all involved in delivering health innovations to people with unmet medical needs.
Derick has over twelve years’ experience of working in patient involvement, scientific communications, multi-stakeholder management and advocacy at both the national and European level. Derick leads IPPOSI’s participation in the European Patients Academy (EUPATI), an initiative which is training patients to become involved in the health innovation process and has spread the IPPOSI public-private partnership model to over 20 countries.
Derick serves on the advisory boards and steering committees of a number of health-related initiatives including the HSE Technology & Transformation Committee, Health Innovation Hub Ireland, a number of HIQA and HSE Advisory committees, as well as the Life & Health Sciences Committee of the Royal Irish Academy. Derick is chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Board of the HRB-Trials Methodology Research Network (HRB-TMRN), a member of the Governance committee of the Precision Oncology Ireland research consortium and is the current chairperson of the European Patient Round-table for the International Society for Health Economics & Outcomes Research (ISPOR).
Derick holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biotechnology from NUI Galway and a PhD in Molecular Medicine from University College Dublin. Outside of IPPOSI, Derick spends his free time playing and coaching hurling as well as attempting to influence his two young daughters.

Jacqui Browne

Jacqui, now retired has over 35 years’ experience of working at local, national, European and International levels as a disability equality consultant. 
Jacqui is actively involved as a patient partner in a number of initiatives, ranging from committees to PPI involvements with Trinity College, UCD and University of Limerick. 
She is also Chairperson of the DPO (Disabled Persons Organisations’ ) Network, and a member of the Disability Advisory Committee of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC); the HSE Board Committee on Patient Safety and Quality; the Irish Thalidomide Association; the board of the International Foundation for Integrated Care; and the Patient Forum of HPRA – The Health Products Regulatory Authority

Deirdre Madden BCL, LLM, BL, PhD, MRIA

Deirdre is a Professor of Law at UCC specialising in healthcare law and ethics. In addition to her textbooks and peer-reviewed articles across the area of health law, Professor Madden has authored/ co-authored reports on Assisted Human Reproduction, Post-Mortem Practice and Procedure, Patient Safety and Quality Assurance, and the Role of Voluntary Organisations in health and social care.

She has been a member of many national advisory committees, expert working groups and regulatory bodies in the areas of bioethics, patient safety, and healthcare regulation including the Medical Council, the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, the Health Information and Quality Authority, the National Advisory Committee on Bioethics, the Expert Group on the Implementation of the ABC v Ireland judgement, and the Expert Advisory Group to the Citizen’s Assembly on the 8th Amendment to the Constitution.
She has been an Ethics Reviewer for the European Commission for over 20 years and has been a Visiting Professor in the UK, US, and Australia.
She was elected as a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2020 and is currently Deputy Chair of the Board of the Health Service Executive.

Brian O’Hagan

Brian O’Hagan is a service user from Northen Ireland and for over two decades he has championed the direct involvement of service users and carers in transforming health and social care. He has been a prominent figure driving regional policy involvement initiatives across the health and social care system.
He Chaired the Service User and Carer liaison Group on the Implementation Programme resulting from the Public Inquiry into Hyponatraemia Related Deaths (IHRD) and is the Co-chair of the Regional Personal, Public Involvement Forum, the body that sets the strategic direction for public involvement in Northern Ireland’s health and social care sector.
Brian is currently the independent Co-chair of the Involvement workstream within Northern Ireland’s new Integrated Care System (ICS). He helped support the development of public involvement in the Southern Trust Daisy Hill Pathfinder project, an initiative that looked how best to shape healthcare in the acute sector through the involvement of the population that use it. He is currently an independent member of the Department of Health NI, Improvement and Transformation Board and an independent involvement advisor on the Departments Inquiries Implementation Programme Management Board.
Brian is committed to encouraging greater and more effective involvement of service users and carers in shaping the future models of health and social care. He believes that a health and social care system that works directly with the individuals it provides services to, will benefit vastly in terms of public acceptance of improvement-based change and more accurate identification of the needs of its population.