Six Health Regions have been established within the HSE, on the basis of the geographical boundaries agreed by the Government in July 2019 and they will be operational from 2024.
Each Health Region will be tasked with population-specific planning resourcing and delivery of health and social care services for the needs of its unique population.
This will result in improved accountability and governance in terms of finance and performance, while also bringing decision-making closer to the frontline.
Health Regions will enable and empower staff to provide services that are:
· Integrated, locally planned and delivered
· Easier to access and navigate
· Available closer to home
Health Regions are geographically based units with clearly defined populations.
They align community and hospital services within specific areas.
The HSE will retain a strong but leaner central organisation, with more service provision developed at a local level.
The HSE South West Health Region will manage and deliver all public health and social care services in Cork and Kerry.
HSE South West includes all hospital and community healthcare services in the region.
This includes:
· South / South West Hospital Group S/SWHG
· Cork Kerry Community Healthcare CKCH
The Department of Population and Public Health is also now aligned with this health region.
Services in the South West health region:
HSE Services working within this region include:
· Acute Hospitals
· Primary care services
· Community services
· Social care services
· Health and social care professionals
· Voluntary sector services
South / South West Hospital Group and Cork Kerry Community Healthcare will become part of HSE South West Health Region from 3rd March, 2025.
UHK is a secondary referral and teaching hospital that provides comprehensive medical and surgical services both for adults and children in the surrounding catchment area of approximately 150,000 populations.
UHK was designed and built in the 1980's. In UHK the needs of the patient is centre stage and UHK management recognises the relationship between Nurse staffing arrangements and patient outcomes.
Research and health inquiry reports provide valuable lessons.
They point to the equal importance and impact of ensuring the right mix of skills and knowledge, strong clinical leadership and a healthy culture within a hospital.
University Hospital Kerry has:
o 24/7 Emergency Department
o 76 Bed Acute Medicine (including 4 Bed Acute Stroke Unit)
o 8 Bed Acute Medical Assessment Unit
o 18 Bed Surgical Day Ward
o 5 Bed Intensive Care Unit
o 4 Bed Coronary Care / High Dependency Unit
o 38 Bed Maternity Unit
o 10 Cot Special Care Baby Unit
o 29 Paediatric Beds
o 5 Operating Theatres
o 11 Bed Endoscopy Day Unit
o 13 Bed Oncology Day Ward
o 12 Bed Dialysis Unit
o 15 Bed Inpatient Palliative Care Unit
In line with Sláintecare and the Department of Health's Capacity review (2018), a shift in healthcare service provision is now required to place the focus on integrated, person-centred care, based as close to home as possible.
In order to enable this, the Integrated Care Programme for the Prevention and Management of Chronic Disease (ICPCD) is supporting the national implementation of a model of integrated care for the prevention and management of chronic disease as part of the Enhanced Community Care Programme (ECC).
The Model of Care for the Integrated Prevention and Management of Chronic Disease has a particular focus on preventive healthcare, early diagnosis, early intervention and the provision of supports to live well with chronic disease.
The focus of the Model of Integrated Care for the Prevention and Management of Chronic Disease is on providing an end-to-end pathway for the management of the four major chronic diseases in Ireland: COPD, asthma, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
This end-to-end pathway will reduce admissions to acute hospitals by providing direct GP access to diagnostics and specialist services in the ambulatory care hubs in a timely manner.
For patients who require hospital admission, the emphasis is on minimising the hospital length of stay, with the provision of post-discharge follow up and support for people in the community and in their own homes, where required.
A shared local governance structure across the local acute hospitals and Cork Kerry Community Healthcare will ensure the development of a fully integrated service and end-to-end pathway for individuals living with chronic disease.
The post holder will be supporting the delivery of the integrated Respiratory Care across acute and community settings.