First Public Meeting of the Board of the Galway and Roscommon University Hospitals Group

The first public meeting of the Board of the Galway and Roscommon University Hospitals Group* took place in University Hospital Galway, today Tuesday 18 June. This was the fifth meeting of the Board since the non-Executive Directors were appointed in January this year.
 
Mr Noel Daly, chairman of the Board of the Group stated, “This is another milestone in the development of the newly expanded hospital group for the West / North West. On May 14, Minister Reilly announced the new hospital groups, which he described as the most fundamental reform of the Irish acute hospital system in decades. The Group now has more autonomy to manage resources, both funding and staffing, in a way that is appropriate to the needs of our patients. We have been given three years to develop the future of this group and have it ready to achieve Trust status which is the next step in becoming an independent body. We are ready for the challenge and seek your support to help us achieve our objective.
 
“On behalf of the Board I would like to thank the members of the public who attended the meeting here in Galway today. The public meetings are now one of many different ways we have to communicate with our stakeholders; for example, management from the Group attend the Regional Health Forum and regularly meet with Oireachtas and local political representatives. We have also met with many representative groups.
 
“We will be looking at ways of widening the reach of public board meetings so that people outside the hospital have an opportunity to find out what we do and why we do it. The Board is responsible for ensuring that the Hospital Group is achieving its strategic objectives and effectively managing its available resources to provide sustainable, safe and effective person-centred care.
 
“A standard agenda item at each meeting is a review of the Group’s accountability reports. These include a finance update, an activity / service update and an update of performance against agreed key targets. This information is delivered through updates from the Group CEO, the Group Clinical Director, the Group Director of Nursing and Midwifery, the Group Chief Financial Officer and the Group Chief Operating Officer.
 
“As this was the first meeting of the Board since the publication of the NIMT report 50278 into the death of Ms Savita Halappanavar on June 13, the Group Clinical Director, Dr Pat Nash provided an update to the Board. Dr Nash advised that significant improvements had been implemented at UHG in response to the Interim Safety Recommendations issued last November to the hospital by the chair of the investigation, Professor Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran and that the hospital will work to fully implement all of the recommendations arising from the report. In response the Board passed a vote to offer apologies and condolences to Mr Praveen Halappanavar and family.
 
“At the meeting today we also had presentations on the establishment of a Metabolic Medicine and Surgery Service and the new ward block at UHG. Also, Bill Maher, Group CEO highlighted a project underway in Galway to build a commemorative garden for organ donors and their recipients. Our final piece of business was to launch the 2012 Annual Report for the Hospital Group.
 
“The Board will meet nine times this year with two of the meetings in public. So far meetings have taken place in Galway, Roscommon and Portiuncula and the intention is to also have meetings in Mayo, Sligo and Donegal later this year.”