3rd Joint Northern Ireland Connected Health & eHealth Ireland Ecosystem Gathering
A member of the ECHAlliance International Connected Health Ecosystem Network
The third joint Northern Ireland and eHealth Ireland Ecosystems Gathering took place to an audience of almost 300 interested stakeholders from across the health ecosystem spectrum.
The outstanding agenda offered expert speakers sharing their views on the opportunities and challenges of cross border health and social care and interactive Early Bird and afternoon workshops provided attendees with alternative means of getting involved in specific cross border topics. During the ecosystem:
- Aidan Gough, Designated Office and Director of Strategy and Policy, InterTradeIreland, updated the Gathering on North/South Trade Relations – Building on Success;
- Keynote speakers, Elaine Colgan, Head of eHealth and eEngagement, Department of Health, NI and Muiris O’Connor, Assistant Secretary, R&D and Health Analytics Division, Department of Health, Ireland presented cases for the imperatives for cross border collaboration in healthcare;
- Mark Lee, Director of Primary Care, Department of Health, NI and Dean Sullivan,Deputy Director General – StrategyHealth Service Executive, Ireland took the opportunity to draw attention to delivering better healthcare through innovation;
- Representing Galicia, Spain, Alberto Fuentes Losada, General Secretary, Galician Health Ministry provided a European perspective on how to deliver the promise of eHealth – the Galician Way;
- Bleddyn Rees,Director, The Digital Health Society, apprised the audience on the progress of The Mission 100 million Digitally Connected Healthier Citizens by 2027 and explained how everyone can get involved in achieving this mission;
- Karen Radcliffe, IT Project Manager and Michael Kane,IT Technical Design Authority, both Belfast Health & Social Care Trust representatives, summarised the need, progress and technical build of the Emergency Services NI STAR project;
- Next sharing the need to address the challenges of delivering healthcare innovation, was Karen Bailey, E-Health Programme Manager, Business Services Organisation, Health and Social Care, Northern Ireland and Kevin Kelly, Business Manager and Digital Lead, Health Business Services, Health Service Executive, Ireland.
Three 5-minute pitches followed which provided an overview of the afternoon workshops with:
– Dr Janice Bailie, Assistant Director, Health and Social Care R&D Division, NI representing the Cross Border Healthcare Interventions Trials in Ireland Network project;
– Dr Joan Condell, Senior Lecturer in Computing, Engineering & Intelligent Systems, Ulster University, highlighting the work of Smart sENsor Devices project; and
– Eibhlin Mulroe, CEO, Cancer Trials Ireland noting the principles behind theAll Island Clinical CTN Trials Network.
- A powerful outlook on how patients are involved in shaping ehealth was delivered by Barney Thompson, Person with Dementia, James Erskine, Engagement & Participation Officer, Alzheimer’s Society and Derick Mitchell, CEO, Irish Platform for Patient Organisations, Science and Industry;
- Business perspectives on delivering remarkable eHealth solutions and services across borders were outlined by Steve Avery, Managing Director, EfficienC Software Group and Ryan Williams, Director, Connected Health Limited;
- Brian O’Connor, Chair, European Connected Health Alliance rounded up the key points made during the gathering and concluded the morning plenary session by describing areas of co-operation.
Following lunch, attendance and audience engagement remained high during the three workshops on Cross Border Healthcare Interventions Trials in Ireland Network, Smart sENsor Devices and All Island Clinical CTN Trials Network.
The European Connected Health Alliance would like to thank the host of the Gathering, InterTradeIreland, for their support and assistance in the organisation of the day, the speakers and workshop leads who presented and all those in attendance who made the gathering a great success.
The presentations delivered on the day can be found here.
