What is the challenge your project is going to address and how does it connect to the theme of 'How can we improve across system boundaries?​

Irish healthcare is transforming in line with our policy framework Slaintecare, which places Population Health at the centre of health planning and delivery. Six newly established Health Regions support greater integration of health and care pathways with a focus on population based planning to pivot services towards prevention, improving health and addressing inequalities. The absence of a cross-sectoral shared understanding of Population Health, and variation in the core actions comprising a population health approach has been voiced as a barrier to systematically and cohesively progressing improvements in the health of regional populations. This brings an opportunity to work with cross system partners and community representatives to collectively and inclusively create a common language and understanding of population health across system boundaries. This will include agreeing core components and consistent actions when applying a population health lens to programmes of work to improve health outcomes and reduce inequity and inequalities.

What does your project aim to achieve?

Strengthen knowledge, collaboration and standardisation in our collective work to improve the health of the Irish population by co-producing over one year with the public, communities, cross-sectoral health partners a shared definition of population health, its core components and consistent actions when undertaking improvements.

1.       Complete a literature review to provide an evidence base

2.       Undertake a stakeholder analysis and build a multi-sectoral engagement and communications plan

3.       Take a co-production approach to the planning, testing and agreement stages of the project underpinned by the new design principles for better public services in Ireland

4.       Facilitate in-person workshops, virtual discussions and use the Delphi method to gather opinions and reach consensus

5.       Use facilitation techniques including liberating structures to provide opportunities for all partner voices to be heard and included

6.       Establish a Q Community Special Interest Group to inform project by enabling cross country discussion and sharing of learning

How will the project be delivered?

1.       Establish core team and robust processes to manage project, timeframe, deliverables, risks, resources, engagement and communication activities – Public Health consultant/QI facilitator/communications coordinator

2.       Establish project charter, sponsorship and intersectoral governance structures that have patient partners, public and community representation

3.       Source academic partner through procurement to work with core team to support co-production, consensus building and collation, evaluation and sharing learning

4.       Invite participation from the public, communities, cross sectoral health and wellbeing partners including local government to a co-production group

5.       Facilitate engagement and design with the co-production group through in-person workshops spread across the Regional Health Areas and using virtual meetings and regular correspondence

6.       Develop a measurement plan with agreed process, outcome and balancing measures to track project implementation, fidelity and success

7.       Co-design an evaluation plan focusing on the experience of cross system collaboration.

How is your project going to share learning?

·         Promote the project and the cross system collaboration through the HSE and partner collaborator communication channels  e.g. newsletters, all staff fortnightly email, local health multimedia updates

·         Present on the fortnightly HSE Public Health CPD Meeting, the HSE QPS Talktime webinar series, Department of Health Slaintecare webinar series and professional bodies’ CPD meetings

·         Establish a Q Community Population Health Special Interest Group to inform the project, facilitate discussion, share project progress, outcomes and evaluation. Through group members connect with national and international communities of practice focused on improving population health.

·         Promote and discuss with the Irish Q Community network through the Teatime catch up sessions

·         Write up the project methodology and evaluation for submission to peer review journals

·         Identify national and international meetings to seek opportunities for both poster and oral presentations e.g. European Public Health Conference/International Forum Quality and Safety