Innovative projects successful under Sláintecare funding
Posted on: 19 September 2019
Minister for Health Simon Harris TD, this week announced the successful applicants for the €20 million Sláintecare Integration Fund. Two projects from from the Department of Clinical Medicine at Trinity College were among the 122 projects from across the country that were successful. Over 477 projects applied to the fund.
Under Sláintecare the successful projects must demonstrate innovative ways in which citizens can engage in their own health; represent best practice in the management of chronic diseases and caring for older people, and encourage innovations in shift of care to the community or promote hospital avoidance.
Speaking at the announcement of the successful applicants, Minister Harris said:
“These projects show how joined-up thinking and working in partnership can help us reach Sláintecare’s goals of shifting the majority of care to the community, reducing waiting lists and improving experiences for patients and staff across the health and social care system in Ireland. I look forward to seeing the end results of these projects and how they might be scaled up.”
The first Trinity project to be awarded funding is ‘Inclusion Health’ which is an approach to clinical care and research that seeks to directly address the dramatic health inequity experienced by people who are socially excluded, for example: people who are homeless, Travellers, drug users and prisoners amongst others. Socially excluded people often experience difficulty accessing the specialist healthcare they need, and flexible, innovative approaches are needed to make sure that the care reaches the patients. The HSE and Genio have recently funded a two-year pilot of Inclusion Health teams in the Mater and St James’s Hospital.
The project is led by Prof Clíona Ní Cheallaigh, from the Department of Clinical Medicine at Trinity, who is a consultant in general medicine and infectious diseases.
She said:
“The Slaintecare Integration Fund award will mean that the Inclusion Health team can expand to include specialist outreach nurses in diabetes, neurology and venous disease who can go out and provide specialist care to socially excluded people in locations where they feel comfortable and can provide training and support to nurses, GPs and social care workers who work in homeless and addiction services. The specialist nurses will also provide training and support to their hospital-based colleagues in managing the complexities of people living in social exclusion.”
The second project from the Department of Clinical Medicine: ‘A pathway to empower patients to engage with antimicrobial stewardship’ enables patients to speak up about antimicrobial hygiene in hospitals.
By the year 2050, 10 million patients worldwide will succumb to antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections. This figure will surpass the projected mortalities due to malignant disease and road traffic accidents combined. In recent years, Ireland has experienced increases in the prevalence of multi-drug resistant infections which threaten patient safety. Increases in AMR are inextricably linked to antimicrobial overuse. Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is a multi-component set of interventions designed to reduce unnecessary antimicrobial use in healthcare settings. Recent research has pointed to the need for increased involvement of patients in AMS from various standpoints such as ensuring the patient voice is heard and ensuring that patients are included as key stakeholders in AMS endeavours.
Mr Gerry Hughes, lead researcher, also from the Department of Clinical Medicine said:
“The primary output of this project will be a package of interventions, co-designed with patients, patient representatives and healthcare staff which will empower patients to speak up about prudent antimicrobial prescribing in hospital.
We look forward to working with our patient representative partners and healthcare colleagues towards this shared goal.”
You can read further information on the Health Inclusion project featured in the media here: