HSE Spark Innovation Programme

At this year’s #SparkSummit2025, the calibre of innovation across the HSE was so high that two exceptional projects were honoured with CEO Choice Innovation Awards by Mr Bernard Gloster, HSE CEO and presented by himself, Mr Robert Watt, Secretary General of the Department of Health and Dr Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, Minister for Health. Best Patient Access – Community Setting Project: The SitWell Pathway – Timely, Tailored Custom Seating for Children with Complex Needs Lead: Linda K., Senior Occupational Therapist, CHO8 Disability Services, Children’s Disability Network Team Longford Best Patient Access – Hospital Setting Project: Virtual Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) Identifier Pathway – A Whole New World? Lead: Dr Laura Piggott, Specialist Registrar in Respiratory Medicine & MD Candidate These awards are more than recognition—they're a powerful message from leadership that we trust and empower our healthcare staff to co-design services with patients and improve care from the ground up. Huge congratulations to both winners on delivering meaningful, innovative solutions in the spirit of the Spark Programme! 👏 #HSE #SparkInnovation #SparkSummit25  HSE Spark Innovation Programme Health Service Executive Bernard Gloster Robert Watt Health Service Executive HSE Innovation HSE Dublin and Midlands Jared Gormly Caitriona Heffernan Siobhan Power Catherine Marsh Michelle Howard

Dr Aileen McCabe and Edel Carey making West Dublin proud with their 2 Spark awards at this years HSE Spark Innovation Programme Summit 2025! Worthy winners for their projects; @Dr McCabe and her team developed a patient-led and co-designed service to help people with dementia live well at home through community clinics, home visits, crisis supports and virtual consultations. Edel Carey's project won the Leadership award for addressing the root causes behind a 40-day follow up period and 8 hour ED wait for Acute Urinary Retention. Edels project reduced follow up time reduced to 25-29 days and ED wait time to 6 hours. Read more about these amazing innovators: https://lnkd.in/gqtXcTEe

Starting off Friday with a listen back on one of HSE Spark Innovation Programme's winners at the #SparkSummit2025. Linda Keogh and team were celebrated for their brilliant SitWell Pathway, revolutionising access to tailored seating for children with complex needs, picking up the CEO Choice Innovation Award – Best Patient Access: Community Setting. A great initiative, delivering real impact to patients and their families in Longford's Children's Disability Network, listen in to Linda speak all about her project on Newstalk's Alive and Kicking. Claire McElvanna Siobhan Power Deirdre Bradley Seán O'Malley Anna Marie Kiernan Una Rogers Laura Dillon Caoimhe Glancy Michelle Howard Catherine Marsh Caitriona Heffernan Jared Gormly Shelley Coleman Noreen Turley National Health & Social Care Professions Office (NHSCPO) Jackie Reed Dr. Maureen A Flynn HSE Dublin and Midlands National Doctors Training & Planning (NDTP) https://lnkd.in/eAENT2uC

This is exactly the type of frontline creativity and impact that HSE Spark is proud to support! Listen to Anna Marie Kiernan; National Nursing and Midwifery Innovation Fellow at HSE Spark Innovation Programme and Advanced Nurse Practitioner discuss her work on Clare FM. Her groundbreaking project, “Patch Me If You Can / Virtually Pain Free”, uses Augmented Reality to reduce procedural pain during Qutenza patch treatments, giving patients comfort and greater control during care, without side effects. 🎧 Listen here: https://lnkd.in/ezuuiAn4 Congratulations again Anna Marie Kiernan, this is a brilliant example of how innovation can transform patient care! Anna Marie Kiernan Rapid Innovation Unit Irish Association Advanced Nurse Midwife Practitioners HSE Mid West #HSESpark #HealthcareInnovation #NursingLeadership #DigitalHealth #PatientCare #SparkFellowship #HSEMidWest #PainMedicine #XRinHealthcare #DesignForHealth #InnovationInAction

Welcome to the HSE Spark Innovation Programme, Una Rogers! We’re thrilled to introduce Una Rogers as the newest National Nursing/Midwifery Innovation Fellow in the 2025 cohort of the HSE Spark Innovation Programme! Una is a Community Midwife Manager with over 12 years of midwifery experience. Deeply committed to woman-centered, holistic maternity care, she has dedicated much of her career to Labour ward and antenatal services, always seeking innovative ways to improve experiences for women and families. Her innovation journey began with a successful Quality Improvement Project that used technology to enhance interpretation services in the Maternity Outpatients Dept — improving patient satisfaction and outcomes while reducing costs. Now, as a Spark Fellow, Una is excited to explore the future of women’s health and Generative AI in healthcare, with a focus on how these technologies can drive real change in our health services. Based in the West/Northwest, Una is eager to collaborate with clinical teams across Ireland. “I’m so excited and privileged to be given this opportunity to join the Spark Innovation Fellowship and work alongside like-minded clinical colleagues to help enhance and improve our health services. As the world evolves at a rapid pace, I believe that embracing emerging technologies like Generative AI can unlock transformative possibilities in healthcare, particularly within obstetric and maternity services." Una is looking forward to hearing from teams with innovative ideas or projects. If you’d like to connect, invite her to visit your service/college, or collaborate on an event, reach out via spark@hse.ie . ✨ Let’s Spark something great together – welcome, Una HSE Spark Innovation Programme Jared Gormly Caitriona Heffernan Michelle Howard Catherine Marsh Claire McElvanna Siobhan Power Anna Marie Kiernan Laura Dillon Seán O'Malley Caoimhe Glancy Deirdre Bradley Shelley Coleman Galway University Hospitals University of Galway Trinity College Dublin Siobhan Canny Dr. Maureen A Flynn Georgina Bassett Eve Stanley Tony Canavan Kevin Kelly Damien McCallion Jonathan McCrea Fran Thompson

🌟 We are delighted to see The Irish Times spotlight frontline innovators recently celebrated at Spark Summit. Huge congratulations to the teams featured, demonstrating that human centred innovation is improving care in our health service right now. Featured in the article: 👏 Spark's own National Nursing and Midwifery Innovation Fellow and Advanced Nurse Practitioner Anna Marie Kiernan and colleagues in Croom Orthopaedic Hospital for “Patch Me If You Can / Virtually Pain Free”: using AR/VR to help patients tolerate capsaicin patch application and manage pain at home. 👏 Prof. Brian Kent, Dr. Laura Piggott and the team in St James's Hospital Dublin for the Virtual Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Identifier Pathway: A digital route using the myPatientSpace app, home testing and virtual consults to reduce delays and streamline diagnostics for sleep apnoea. 🙌 Well done to all award recipients on the day, whose projects included community-based dementia care, mothers and babies groups for marginalised new mothers in Limerick, and OT-trained, HCA-delivered home rehab in University Hospital Waterford. The article showcases the breadth of innovation in the health service, as well as the diversity of different healthcare professions involved, through support of the National Health & Social Care Professions Office (NHSCPO), the Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Services Director (ONMSD) and National Doctors Training & Planning (NDTP) Health Service Executive Bernard Gloster Damien McCallion Robert Watt John Cooke Georgina Bassett Kevin Kelly Jackie Reed Dr. Maureen A Flynn Colm Henry Leah O'Toole Alan O'Gorman Jared Gormly Caitriona Heffernan Michelle Howard Deirdre Bradley Una Rogers Caoimhe Glancy Laura Dillon Seán O'Malley Siobhan Power Claire McElvanna Catherine Marsh Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD https://lnkd.in/eBRtEXHW

Welcome to the HSE Spark Innovation Programme, Una Rogers! We’re thrilled to introduce Una Rogers as the newest National Nursing/Midwifery Innovation Fellow in the 2025 cohort of the HSE Spark Innovation Programme! Una is a Community Midwife Manager with over 12 years of midwifery experience. Deeply committed to woman-centered, holistic maternity care, she has dedicated much of her career to Labour ward and antenatal services, always seeking innovative ways to improve experiences for women and families. Her innovation journey began with a successful Quality Improvement Project that used technology to enhance interpretation services in the Maternity Outpatients Dept — improving patient satisfaction and outcomes while reducing costs. Now, as a Spark Fellow, Una is excited to explore the future of women’s health and Generative AI in healthcare, with a focus on how these technologies can drive real change in our health services. Based in the West/Northwest, Una is eager to collaborate with clinical teams across Ireland. “I’m so excited and privileged to be given this opportunity to join the Spark Innovation Fellowship and work alongside like-minded clinical colleagues to help enhance and improve our health services. As the world evolves at a rapid pace, I believe that embracing emerging technologies like Generative AI can unlock transformative possibilities in healthcare, particularly within obstetric and maternity services." Una is looking forward to hearing from teams with innovative ideas or projects. If you’d like to connect, invite her to visit your service/college, or collaborate on an event, reach out via spark@hse.ie . ✨ Let’s Spark something great together – welcome, Una HSE Spark Innovation Programme Jared Gormly Caitriona Heffernan Michelle Howard Catherine Marsh Claire McElvanna Siobhan Power Anna Marie Kiernan Laura Dillon Seán O'Malley Caoimhe Glancy Deirdre Bradley Shelley Coleman Galway University Hospitals University of Galway Trinity College Dublin Siobhan Canny Dr. Maureen A Flynn Georgina Bassett Eve Stanley Tony Canavan Kevin Kelly Damien McCallion Jonathan McCrea Fran Thompson

It's here! Our latest HSE Spark Newsletter, filled with updates on the activities of the Spark Team, our frontline innovators and our wider innovation network. We have been busy these past few months and we hope you enjoy reading it, as much as we enjoyed putting it together. Read about: - Our Annual Innovation Conference, Spark Summit - Our National Innovation Award winners - Our new National Innovation Fellows - Winners of Design on the Frontline and Spark Ignite - Spark Impact 2025 projects - The relaunch of Spark Seed - And lots, lots more. You can download the newsletter here 👉 https://lnkd.in/ekqSk_kZ Health Service Executive Jared Gormly Caitriona Heffernan Michelle Howard Catherine Marsh Claire McElvanna Eve Stanley Siobhan Power Deirdre Bradley Anna Marie Kiernan Una Rogers Laura Dillon Caoimhe Glancy Seán O'Malley Shelley Coleman National Health & Social Care Professions Office (NHSCPO) National Doctors Training & Planning (NDTP) Dr. Maureen A Flynn Muriel Pate Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD Bernard Gloster Colm Henry Damien McCallion Robert Watt #frontlineinnovation #BrightSpark #CEOChoiceInnovationAward

I can't recommend this workshop enough! It is a collaborative, human centered session that empowers participants to identify challenges, generate creative solution, and rapidly prototype innovations to improve our healthcare services. CPD approved also 😊 Sign up in the link below!