HSE Data Collaborathon 2.0
In late October 2023, the Guinness Enterprise Centre, Dublin and Portershed, Galway simultaneously played host to the HSE’s Data Collaborathon 2.0. Ciarán Galway spoke with participants.
Organised by Maria McCann, the HSE’s Director of Identity Management Services, the Collaborathon incorporated a series of case study presentations, workshops, and a fireside chat, with a closing keynote delivered by John Ward, Interim Technology Transformation Officer.
Explaining the rationale informing Data Collaborathon 2.0, McCann explains: “Data is key to many of my programmes of work. We see the impact of good data, we see the impact of good governance, and today is about determining how we share these experiences with our partners across the HSE.
“There are many amazing projects across that Health Service Executive, the Department of Health, the wider health ecosystem, and across government. Today’s collaborathon is defined by information sharing for the benefit of the citizen or the patient the whole way through their patient journey. It is also about connection.
“Defying some perceptions of the public service, our environment is very fast paced; there are many programmes of work. While there is an appetite to share expertise and learning, we must create a space to do so. Taking time today to connect with others can uncover projects that are relevant to our own. We are trying to connect silos of work and cultivate a genuinely positive culture around data within the health service, allowing people to communicate with colleagues who are in the same or similar positions.”
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“The key advantage of an event like this Collaborathon is the participation of multidisciplinary teams from across the healthcare system. It is impossible to keep up with all developments across the system and these types of events deliver a summary synopsis of what is happening, and the direction of the strategy moving forward with respect to the HSE, HIQA, and others. This one is definitely hitting the nail on the head from that perspective.” |
“My team is responsible for the HSE’s public website, social media, customer service, digital marketing, that space. As such, we work very closely with eHealth and the health identifiers, bringing a slightly different lens to the technology side of things, looking at how the human interacts with the technology. |
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“There is no island of knowledge in the HSE. Across the organisation, we all think we are brilliant at what we do; and we are, but for the health service to work, there is a multidisciplinary requirement across a huge spectrum. Not just in a clinical sense. For instance, while there is a multidisciplinary team looking after an individual’s healthcare, in turn, this team is supported by another multidisciplinary team, or another set of teams, which are delivering several other elements of healthcare. “For healthcare to work, all the components must work together. Quite often in ICT, we think ‘here is the road things should be on’. However, it is often not the right road, and someone will suggest an alternative. These types of events bring all the right people into a room to add dimensions so that when a platform or a solution is being delivered, it takes into account these perspectives.” |
“The Spark Innovation Programme promotes a culture of innovation within the HSE. We take a broad look at innovation; everything from a different pathway to production of a new technology. The way Spark’s collaboration with the collaborathon kind of came around was fairly serendipitous. We know Maria [McCann] and John [Ward], having met them at a different conference, a link was made, and we had a chat to determine if there were any synergies in terms of what they aim to achieve and what we are exploring in terms of the support structure. As such, we came on board as a partner. “We are very much the eyes on the clinical frontline. As such, when Maria and John were developing a questionnaire to gain insight into what people wanted from a collaborathon – as well as knowledge gaps across the system – we connected them to our network to help inform its development. “There is nothing better than being in the same room as people from across the health service. Consider the event today, there are clinical people, non-clinical people, private industry, and others all in the room. Everyone has a shared goal of ultimately enhancing and improving patient care.” |
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“The benefit of participation today is for people to understand that while many people are working on digital, not everybody understands what others around them are doing. Events like this, enhance awareness of the work being undertaken in parallel to people’s own projects, and foster enhanced cohesion. This is the most important element; getting people to connect with each other.” |
“A core group of us met in Drogheda after the Covid pandemic to consider the data governance space. We decided that holding a series of collaborathons would be a good idea. I was involved right from the outset, presenting at the previous collaborathon and then again today. “The value is in a mixture of both networking and content. With digital health, we are absolutely, definitely better together. Digital health is a multifaceted and complex field, and we must work together. The more events which are focused on discussing and sharing information around digital innovation and data, the better.” |
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“Through our collaboration international colleagues and as a member of MedTech Europe, HealthTech Ireland knows that healthcare trends such as ageing demographics and increased chronic disease management are presenting challenges for healthcare systems both nationally and internationally. The opportunity through digital health transformation to meet these challenges and provide value to the healthcare system, healthcare professionals, and patients is huge. “Cross sector forums for meaningful collaboration, demonstrated so well here today by the HSE teams are critical both to understand and to identify where we can best support. “HealthTech Ireland and HSE colleagues collaborate in several ways. At a strategic level, we support strategic development as described, and then at operational level, we listen, understand, and communicate where the HSE is at any given point in time to ensure that the companies can connect into that. Many organisations who are facing this evolving landscape will also often use HealthTech Ireland as a source of reliable information, with a credible finger on the pulse. “Today has been a truly collaborative day and it is wonderful to see the passion and drive from individuals and teams across the sector to deliver transformation. This continued open and trusted communication and engagement such as that exists between the HSE and HealthTech Ireland is a critical and valued relationship. HealthTech Ireland with its members are here to understand and support these teams in delivering this vision for patients.” |
