Cross Border ENT and other medical services

Unique cross border Hospital service established

A unique model for planning and managing a cross border hospital service has been established between the HSE Dublin North East and the Southern Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland. This cross border collaboration has seen Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) waiting lists in the HSE Dublin North East area significantly reduced by facilitating ENT consultants from Northern Ireland’s Southern Trust to work in Monaghan Hospital. It is also enabling HSE DNE ENT patients to access inpatient care in Northern Ireland’s Daisy Hill and Craigavon Hospitals. Funding for the ‘start up’ period of this scheme has been provided by the European Union’s INTERREG IVA programme which was secured by Co-operation and Working Together (CAWT), the cross border health and social care partnership. Monaghan Hospital has been collaborating with the acute hospitals in the Southern Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland over the past 12 months, to get the cross border service up and running.

To date, under this cross border scheme, 2,270 people living in the Dublin North East area have received ENT outpatient appointments in Monaghan Hospital with day case treatment also available if required. Additionally,
859 Southern Trust patients have been seen in ENT clinics in either Craigavon or Daisy Hill Hospitals. HSE DNE ENT patients requiring in-patient treatment, can now receive this in either Craigavon or Daisy Hill Hospitals, with the support of Southern Trust consultants, Mr Kaluskar and Mr Farnan.

Stephen Mulvany, Regional Director of Operations in the HSE DNE welcomed the benefits this new service is bringing to people in the Dublin North East area. He said “we now have a combined cross border ENT service for both adults and children. This is a robust service which will continue after the EU funding period ends. We have been able to use these additional resources to tackle our ENT waiting lists and to collaborate with well established ENT services next door to us, in the Southern Trust acute hospitals in Northern Ireland. Patient feedback has been very positive to date.”

Mairead McAlinden, Chief Executive for the SHSCT commented on the Trust’s involvement said: “This cross border partnership has allowed us to expand and enhance our ENT service, increasing our consultant medical team, and has brought benefits to both to our own patients in the Southern Trust area and to people living in the HSE Dublin North East area. We now have a larger and more stable service. We have demonstrated that working together and sharing resources across the border can provide better access to high quality ENT services for patients living in the more rural border area.”

CAWT’s Chief Officer, Mrs Bernie McCrory outlined the significance of this new cross border ENT service. She said “CAWT is managing 12 European Union funded cross border health and social care services and projects and the biggest portion of our activity is focused on acute hospital services.

This unique partnership serves as model for other cross border hospital services currently in the planning stages. Both partners to this cross border ENT service; the Southern Trust and the HSE DNE, are committed to its longer term continuation, which is already bringing real health benefits to the local border populations.”

To support the establishment of this cross border ENT service, nurses from Monaghan hospital engaged in observational training in the Southern Trust, with the approval of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NI) and An Bord Altranais (Irish Nursing Board). The two Southern Trust consultants, Mr Kaluskar and Mr Farnan, already registered with the General Medical Council in Northern Ireland, are now registered with the Irish Medical Council, which enables them to treat patients in the Republic of Ireland.
Once the EU funding period has elapsed the cross border ENT service will continue as a permanent collaborative service between the HSE DNE and the Southern Trust.

Contacts
Ann Martin, Press Officer, HSE Dublin North East. Tel 046 9280576
Mob: 087 0610848 E:annt.martin@hse.ie

Sadie Bergin, Communications Manager, Co-operation and Working Together (CAWT). Tel: 00 44 (0) 28 71 272100 Mob: 00 44 (0) 77 64204430
E: sadie.bergin@westhealth.n-i.nhs.uk W; www.cawt.com

Notes

1. Co-operation and Working Together (CAWT) is a cross border health and social care partnership comprising the Health and Social Care Board and the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland, the border counties of the Health Service Executive (HSE) in the Republic of Ireland and the Southern and Western Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland.  CAWT is managing a range of cross border health and social care programmes, part financed by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund through the INTERREG IVA cross-border Programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.
2. ENT Consultants Mr. Kaluskar and Mr. Farnan, provide ENT services including outpatients and day case at  Monaghan Hospital. Mr. Farnan, the SHSCT based ENT consultant, rotates as required across to the HSE DNE area.
3. The CAWT Acute Hospital Services project is 3 years in duration and is part of CAWT’s ‘Putting Patients, Clients and Families First’ initiative funded by the European Union INTERREG IVA programme. The amount of funding secured for cross border ENT services is €3.77 million for the whole of the CAWT border region. Project website:  www.cawt.com/acute
4. Within the HSE this cross border ENT service is available to patients in the eligible CAWT area of counties Cavan, Monaghan and a proportion of Co. Louth and the SHSCT area.
5. The Southern Health and Social Care Trust provides hospital, community and primary care services across the Armagh, Dungannon, Craigavon, Banbridge Newry and Mourne Council areas in Northern Ireland. Daisy Hill in Newry and Craigavon Area, are the Trust’s two acute hospitals.6. The European Union’s INTERREG IVA programme is designed to support cross border co-operation, social cohesion and economic development between regions of the EU. The Northern Ireland/Ireland programme is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body and covers all of Northern Ireland, the Border Region of Ireland and Western Scotland. It aims to address the economic and social disadvantage that can result from the existence of a border.