|    |
You are here
Quality and Patient Safety (QPS)
Quality and Patient Safety (QPS)
The Quality and Patient Safety Team at Mayo University Hospital supports the delivery of excellent, safe and effective person-centred care at all times. We work under the HSE values of care, compassion, trust and learning to facilitate further strengthening and improvement of quality & patient safety in healthcare through partnership with patients, staff and the community we serve.
The QPS Department comprises of a team of seven staff, including the Quality and Patient Safety Manager, QPS Co-ordinator, QPS Facilitator, Section Officer, Staff Officer, Patient Advice & Liaison Coordinator and a Patient Engagement & Partnership Improvement Coordinator.
Irene McNicholas and Lorraine Cooney. Absent from photo Margaret Healy, Monica Voignier and Caroline Murtagh
Our Quality & Patient Safety Team aims to:
- Listen to your concerns, suggestions or queries.
- Listen to what went well and share your positive feedback with staff.
- Advise and support patients, carers and families.
- Provide information on Mayo University Hospital services.
- Help to sort out problems quickly on your behalf and put you in touch with other sources of help.
- Facilitate learning and quality improvement initiatives based on incidents & feedback.
- Support patient & family involvement in the planning, delivery & evaluation of care.
Contact details:
Email: MUHPatientFeedback@hse.ie
Phone: 094 904 2459
Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
PALS provides a confidential and impartial liaison service for patients and their carers. PALS can offer support and advice, respond to any concerns you may have and can take your comments and suggestions for service improvements.
Your care will not be adversely affected by contacting PALS, rather we hope it will improve your experience and make things better for you and others. Some concerns take a little longer to resolve than others, PALS will support you until the matter has been resolved. If we are unable to sort things out to your satisfaction we will advise you on the formal complaints process and what you need to do.
Lorraine Cooney, PALS Coordinator can be contacted Monday – Friday on 094 904 2172 or 087 943 6046 or MUH.PALS@hse.ie For more information please view our leaflet
Engagement
Promoting Patient Engagement
“Nothing About Me Without Me”
As a patient, staff or member of the public we hope you will find this website a useful means of engagement with your Hospital. Please click here to learn more about our Patient Engagement Forum
Staff Engagement
We also welcome and encourage feedback, suggestions or opportunities from our staff. Staff may email MUHStaff.FeedBack@hse.ie
Please click here to learn more about our Staff Engagement Forum
Compliments, Feedback & Complaints
Your experience matters
We welcome and encourage feedback and suggestions from you on the service we provide. Please submit your feedback to the following email address MUHPatientFeedback@hse.ie or into a feedback post box located in different areas around the hospital.
How do I Make a Complaint?
Stage 1:
The best way to raise any concern is to speak to the nurse, doctor or other staff member who is looking after you. If they cannot resolve the issue or you are unhappy with their response, their line manager can also support you.
Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
PALS provides a liaison service for Patients, Carers and Visitors.
To get in touch with PALS, Phone 094 904 2172 or 087 943 6046 or Email MUH.PALS@hse.ie include your name, contact details and brief details of your concern.
If we feel an issue needs to be escalated as a complaint we will advise you on this process.
Stage 2:
Formal Complaints
We try to resolve all complaints as quickly and efficiently as possible and this is often via the PALS Service. However, you have a right to make a formal complaint without going through the Stage 1 process above or if you are unhappy with the response you received initially. You can of course in this instance request that your concerns or complaints are dealt with formally.
Feedback and complaints are really important to us; they help us to identify faults or areas for improvements. We treat any complaint seriously, looking into all issues raised with respect, fairness and confidentiality; ensuring your complaint does not affect your current or future treatment.
If you would like to make a complaint, this should normally be made within twelve months of the event you wish to complain about, or within twelve months of the date you found out about the problem. For national information, please visit:
We aim to:
- acknowledge your complaint either verbally or in writing within 5 working days
- we might call or ask to meet you to hear more about it
- provide a full response by letter or email as requested, within the agreed timescale
- contact you to ask for more time, if needed
- keep you updated every 20 working days after that
If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint, you can ask for an internal review by the HSE. You can also ask for an external review from the Ombudsman or the Ombudsman for Children.
Advocacy
If you would like support in making your complaint, an advocacy organisation may help you to do this. For more information, please visit:
https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/yourhealthservice/feedback/services/
Learning from Feedback
We see feedback from patients and families as an opportunity to recognise excellence, learn from mistakes and to make improvements. We aim to build confidence in the complaints system by sharing some of the positive outcomes from feedback in order to encourage people to speak up and share their concerns as a vital part of improving the patient experience.
Wellness Walkway
John McCormack; Patient Experience Advisor with Mayo University Hospital strongly encourages all patients to be physically active whilst in hospital.
John had a prolonged hospital stay, spending over 6 months in the hospital and he praises the staff who supported him and encouraged his physical recovery during that time. John said “working with motivated staff and having personal self-determination helped an earlier discharge.”
As a result of this, John became an Advisor on our Patient & Family Experience Council and a key person involved in developing and championing our Wellness Walkway. This aims to promote the health and wellbeing of patients during their recovery from illness and injury. The walkway is 130m long with exercise stations and seated areas to allow patients get away from the busy ward environment.
Caitriona Davey, Clinical Nurse Manager 3 and Wellness Walkway Project Team member said, “We have designed the walkway to support patients to remain active during their hospital stay and we have exercise stations designed by physiotherapists at intervals along the walk with wall panels illustrating different lower and upper body exercises.
“We know from research how important it is for patients to stay mobile while in hospital. We have implemented the national ‘Get Up, Get Dressed, Get Moving’ campaign in the hospital and to complement this, the new Wellness Walkway provides a protected space for patients to keep moving to prevent loss of muscle, strength and fitness.”
“The walkway also has a continuous handrail to improve the experience for those who might need support when walking. Around the seated areas we have added 15 large scale photographs of iconic locations in Mayo including Achill Island, Blacksod Lighthouse, Lough Lannagh and Tourmakeady Waterfall, where patients can sit alone or in the company of others to help reduce anxiety associated with a hospital stay.”
“Along the route the signage, clocks and furniture were selected in line with ‘Dementia Friendly Hospitals Universal Design Approach’ principles to provide patients with symptoms of dementia and their families/carers with a designated and stimulating space outside of the ward.”
Communication Training
As a result from feedback we have initiated a hospital wide communication training package. This involved bespoke communication training for our Emergency Department staff as well as the role out of the National Healthcare Communication Programme (NHCP) which is designed to support healthcare staff to take a skilled, sensitive and person-centred approach to all conversations with patients, their families and with colleagues. The Programme is under-pinned by the Core Values of Care, Compassion, Trust and Learning. We are also supporting our own staff to be trained to deliver this training on an ongoing basis.
Irene McNicholas, Quality & Patient Safety Coordinator and Communication Trainer said, “I have been a facilitator of the NHCP communication programme over the last 2 years. Consistent feedback I have had from staff is that they have enjoyed the workshop and have found it extremely beneficial in their interactions with patients. Small changes and awareness of communication can make a big difference.”
MUH Application of Framework for Improving Quality
MUH is committed to delivering high quality patient centred services. Click here to find out how we are achieving this through the application of the HSE’s Framework for Improving Quality.
Please Click here to learn more about the HSE's Framework for Improving Quality in our Health Service.