ANNUAL REVIEW 2004 - St Vincent's University Hospital

St. Michael’s Hospital
Executive Review
Overview
Since St. Michael’s Hospital joined the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group in 2001, the
policy of developing and integrating the services and facilities of St. Michael’s Hospital
within the Healthcare Group has continued. In 2004, this trend was accelerated
through Accreditation, where staff from the three hospitals within the group worked
together on the Self Assessment process and Quality Improvement Plans.
In 2004, the hospital prepared and submitted a Service Plan in conjunction with St.
Vincent’s University Hospital to the Eastern Regional Health Authority. As in previous
years the Service Plan detailed the hospital’s expenditure, activity and service
requirements for 2004. It also outlined the requirement for a capital-funding injection
to upgrade the infrastructure in St. Michael’s Hospital. Throughout 2004, a series of
meetings where held with the ERHA both separately and as part of the St.Vincent’s
Healthcare Group, during which the issues detailed in the Service Plan where
considered and discussed.
The Financial outturn for the year 2004 showed a small surplus. The factors, similar to
that of 2003, which contributed to us maintaining expenditure within allocation,
included once off adjustments in respect of debtors and stocks. When these
adjustments are taken into consideration, the outturn reflects the difficult year that the
hospital experienced in coping with the growing demands for services.
During periods of the year the SRSV outbreak was a contributing influencing factor on
both activity and finance, leading to loss of revenue and increased costs, particularly in
providing additional cleaning to the patient care areas.
Capital Expenditure received in 2004 was spent on essential maintenance, repairs,
painting and commencing work on the link corridor between the Public Hospital and
the former St. Michael’s Private Hospital building. This corridor will enable the hospital
to re-locate services and facilitate appropriate access and ease of patient transfer
between the two buildings. It will also enable the hospital to consider future
developments in relation to utilisation of space.
Demand for A&E services during the revised hours continued to increase, as did the
demand for the GP Co-operative Service (DL Doc) and the GP Physiotherapy referral
service. The GP Physiotherapy Service was provided in conjunction with the East
Coast Area Health Board.
As mentioned previously, St. Michael’s as part of the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group,
participated in the Accreditation process of the Irish Health Service Accreditation
Board. The survey took place in May 2004 and we received our award in January
2005. St. Michael’s was strongly represented across all the Clinical and Clinical Support
teams and on the Steering and Co-ordination groups. I would like to thank Ann
Brennan, who undertook tremendous work at local level in St. Michael’s Hospital in
respect of the Accreditation process and all the other St. Michael’s Hospital staff who
participated at all levels.
Human Resources
2004 was another stable year for Human
Resources as St. Michael’s experienced
relatively low staff turnover. We had a
successful year in recruitment with high
quality response levels to all advertised
vacancies in addition to a regular flow of
unsolicited applications. It was also a busy
time for HR participating in the preparation
to meet the standards of the Irish Health
Services Accreditation Board and to coordinate
the site visit at St. Michael’s on
behalf of SVHG. Further progress was
made in integrating our HR policies and
practices with our sister hospitals, SVUH
and SVPH, as part of the SVHG. We also
welcomed Nicola Vahey as the new
Assistant to the HR Manager.
Other significant developments during the
year included the introduction of the new
Dignity at Work, Equal Opportunities and
Diversity policies for the health service. We
also commenced the introduction of
Personal Development Planning (PDP) and
all departmental and line managers are
being offered training to carry out PDP
with their staff. In addition, over 140 staff
participated in professional and personal
skills training courses and study during the
year. The HR Forum for Department
Heads and Line Managers met regularly
throughout the year to share information
and discuss issues of common interest
relating to the management of human
resources at St. Michael’s.
2004 marked the retirement of Mr. John
Doyle, as Portering Services Officer, after a
long and distinguished career in St. Michael’s
Hospital. I take this opportunity to thank
John for his contribution to St. Michael’s
Hospital, and to wish him a long happy and
healthy retirement.
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St Vincent’s Healthcare Group