HMI Annual Conference 2024
23 October (09.15 – 15.30)
The Concert Hall
RDS
Dublin 4
Positively leading though complex change in health and social care
Tony Canavan
Regional Executive Officer, HSE West and North West
Tony has worked in the Health Services in the West for over 30 years. Over that time he has held a number of appointments with the Western Health Board in the Mental Health Services, the Department of Public Health, Primary Care Services and Acute Hospitals Services. In 2012, he was appointed Chief Operating Officer of the first Hospital Group in the country known then as the Galway Roscommon University Hospitals Group, which subsequently became the Saolta Group and was extended to include Letterkenny and Sligo. In 2015, he became Chief Officer of Community Healthcare West before returning to the Saolta Group four years later as CEO. He took up the role of Regional Executive Officer, HSE West and North West in March 2024.
Tony is the immediate Past President of the Health Management Institute and is a member of the scientific subcommittee of the European Association of Hospital Mangers (EAHM).
Breda Crehan-Roche
Healthcare and Social Care Systems Management Consultant
Breda is a highly accomplished and uniquely experienced healthcare executive and healthcare systems subject matter expert with over 35 years’ experience as a healthcare professional and senior executive at all levels of the Irish healthcare ecosystem.
Breda took early retirement from her most recent HSE position as Chief Officer of Community Healthcare West/CHO2 where she lead out on major transformational and reform programmes under Sláintecare across Primary Care, Disability, Mental Health, Older Persons Services and Health and Well-Being Services across counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. With a keen interest in integrated health system reform across complex healthcare services, Breda has a particular specialist interest in Disability Services and Community Care Services having worked as Chief Executive Officer of Ability West between 2005 and 2019 and also held a number of senior management positions, including senior roles In the Midland Health Board, as Assistant CEO of Community Care Services, Director of Services for Persons with Disabilities and for a short time as Assistant National Director of Social Inclusion in the newly formed Health Service Executive.
Breda is a Registered Nurse, Montessori Teacher, has an MSc in Economics and Healthcare Management from the University of Wales, a MBS from University of Limerick and a Certificate in Charity Law, Governance and Trusteeship from the Law Society. Breda continues to provide her expertise and health systems consulting services to a range of stakeholders across the healthcare system where the depth and breadth of her experience as a senior healthcare manager and commissioner provides invaluable insights and guidance to parties seeking to meaningfully participate in and to support the healthcare system to increase access to care and services and to ensure patient and service user centricity is the focal point for all initiatives.
As President of HMI, Breda is committed to the consolidation of networks and the provision of solid sounding boards to support healthcare managers in their pursuit of continuous professional development through synergies and reciprocal learning opportunities across Ireland and through the European Association of Healthcare Managers.
Kate Duggan
CEO, Tusla – Child & Family Agency
Kate Duggan was permanently appointed as CEO of Tusla – Child & Family Agency in September 2023.
Prior to taking up this role, Kate was the Director of Services & Integration in the agency, having previously held various positions at regional and national level in the HSE, working across the span of community services.
Kate qualified as a Speech & Language Therapist from Trinity College Dublin and has completed a Master’s in Public Administration (IPA) and a Master’s in Business Practice (IMI).
Kate has a keen interest in the area of preventative and early intervention services, the development of multi-disciplinary services internally in the Agency and working collaboratively with external partners to support the delivery of more integrated response pathways for children, young people and families.
Bernard Gloster
Chief Executive Officer, Health Service Executive
Bernard Gloster took up the post of Chief Executive Officer of the HSE in March 2023. He has worked in health and social services for over 34 years, and rejoined the HSE from the state Child and Family Agency Tusla, where he served as Chief Executive Officer from September 2019. Prior to that, he held several senior management positions within the HSE including Chief Officer of HSE Mid West Community Healthcare. He also worked in and managed both community and acute hospital operations. He is a social care worker by profession, holds an MBA from Oxford Brookes University and an MSc in Management Practice from UCC.
Áine Lynch
Director of Nursing & Integrated Care, Tallaght University Hospital
Áine has over 35 years’ experience in healthcare across Ireland, the UK and the Middle East. She is a key member of the Executive Management Team in Tallaght University Hospital, as Director of Nursing & Integrated Care since 2017, having worked in a variety of clinical, quality and safety leadership roles since the Hospital opened in 1998.
She worked at regional level in 2016-2017 as Interim Director of the Nursing and Midwifery Planning and Development Unit, Dublin South Kildare & Wicklow, Office of the Nursing & Midwifery Services Director, HSE. In 2022 she undertook the role of interim Chief Director of Nursing and Midwifery, Dublin Midlands Hospital Group for one year.
Further education includes an MSc in Education and Training Management (Dublin City University), a Diploma in Leadership Development (Smurfit Graduate Business School) and a Certificate in Principles of Integrated Care (Munster Technological University). In 2023, she was awarded Fellow by Examination, Nursing and Midwifery, Royal College Surgeons in Ireland. The Minister of Health appointed her a Board member of the Nursing & Midwifery Board of Ireland in 2021 and in 2023 she was elected as Vice President. Áine is an Adjunct Professor, School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin.
Áine welcomes a collaborative approach in healthcare to maximise integrated care with the purpose of improving the experience and outcomes of patients, servicer users and families.
Dr. Siobhan McCarthy
Programme Director for MSc Quality & Safety in Healthcare Management, Graduate School of Healthcare Management, RCSI.
Dr Siobhan McCarthy is Programme Director for MSc Quality & Safety in Healthcare Management at the Graduate School of Healthcare Management at RCSI and leads research on quality and safety topics. Her current work focuses on the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions to promote safety culture and quality improvement. She is co-investigator for the Irish Safety Culture and After Action Review Experience (iCAARE) study. Published in peer-reviewed journals, Siobhan has developed online patient safety education for junior doctors, and has pioneered the development of open access video simulations on how healthcare staff can learn from patient safety events. Siobhan is an active member of the national steering committee for the Evidence-Based Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (EQUIPS) Research Network where she is focused on the development of research priorities and methodologies. She is Editorial Board member at the International Journal for Quality in Healthcare (IJQHC) and an invited keynote speaker at masterclasses and conferences across Ireland, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Mellany McLoone
Integrated Health Area Manager, Dublin North City and Dublin North West
Mellany McLoone was appointed to the position of Integrated Health Area (IHA) Manager for Dublin North City and Dublin North West, from 1st October 2024. She has previously held the position of Chief Officer of Community Healthcare Organisation Dublin North City and County (CHO DNCC) since March 2019.
As IHA Manager, Mellany is responsible for the delivery of Community and Acute services in Dublin North City and Dublin North West geographical area.
With significant experience in the Irish public health system over the past three decades, she has worked in a number of senior management and leadership roles in the areas of human resources, business support and operational management in hospitals, community services and Tusla.
Mellany holds a Masters in Organisational Leadership from the Royal College of Surgeon’s Institute of Leadership and an Advanced Diploma in Applied Employment Law from Kings Inn. She has also been awarded a Degree in HR and Industrial Relations from the National College of Ireland and the Irish Management Institute’s Graduate Award in Executive Healthcare Leadership and Health Service.
Prof Ciarán O’Boyle
Emeritus Professor of Psychology, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
Professor Ciaran O’Boyle, is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences with over 40 years’ experience as an educator, researcher and trainer. He established the RCSI Centre for Positive Health Sciences in 2019 and was its Director until June 2024. He established the first Department of Psychology in an Irish Medical School in 1987 and he established the RCSI’s Institute of Leadership in 2005, which he directed for 15 years. He established RCSI Dubai in 2007 and led it until 2019. A psychologist and pharmacologist, he also has postgraduate qualifications in theology and organisational leadership. He has over 35 years’ experience in corporate consultancy for a range of national and international public and private sector organisations in the military, aviation, financial services, education, government and healthcare sectors. Ciaran lectures extensively in Ireland and internationally. He has published over 100 scientific papers and books including the new Routledge International Handbook of Positive Health.
Gillian O’Loughlin
Operational Lead, Tallaght Community Integrated Care Programme for Chronic Disease Management, HSE, Dublin South West
Gillian O’Loughlin is the Operational Lead for the Chronic Disease Hub based in Tallaght and Clondalkin linked to Tallaght University Hospital. She commenced this role in October 2021 and in that time has set up 3 consultant led, clinical specialist teams providing services in Cardiology, Diabetes and Respiratory to the Dublin South West population. She graduated from the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK in 1998 with a BSc (Hons) in Dietetics. She worked in St James’ hospital and then Naas General Hospital where in 2013 she took up the position of Dietitian Manager until 2021. Gillian has a special interest in Sports Nutrition and has completed a research MSc in Nutritional Practices of Irish Horse Racing Jockeys.
Caroline O’Regan
Executive Development Specialist, Programme Director Royal College of Surgeons, Institute of Leadership (IoL) Ireland
Caroline has over 25 years’ experience working in leadership and management development in the health sector in the Ireland and Internationally.
Caroline holds a (MEd) Masters in Education, with the University of Sheffield. She is an accredited executive leadership coach and works with CEO’s, Senior Executives and managers in public and private industries. Caroline is also and External Coach Accreditation Assessor (AC UK & Ireland) and Neuro-linguistic practitioner (NLP). She is a member of the Communication Council of the European Association of Hospital Managers (EAHM), and British Psychological Society (BPS). She was a
Non- Executive Board member of the Institute of Public Administration (IPA).
Caroline held the position of Assistant of National Director, Leadership Education and Development HSE Corporate HR, before taking up the post with the RCSI Institute of Leadership (IoL). Prior to this, she was lead for Management and Leadership Development with HSE Corporate Learning and Development. Caroline was one of the first members of the Office for Health Management (OHM) and led the development of health care competency frameworks and personal and development planning (PDP).
She has developed a portfolio for executive and strategic development with health, public and private sectors. She worked with the Department of Health and was part of the change management team for the Irish health system reform programme and introduction of the HSE. She is programme director of the Clinical Directors programme and executive development programmes.
Prof Pascal Verdonck
Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Technology, Ghent University
Prof Pascal Verdonck was born in 1963 in Ghent, Belgium. He graduated in 1986 as Master of Science Civil Engineering @ Ghent University. He obtained his Masters of Business Administration (1989), Master of Science Biomedical Engineering (1993) and PhD (1993) @ Ghent University.
For twenty years he was at Ghent University with visiting professorships at Imperial College London and the Universities of Paris XII, Groningen and Bologna. He took an eight-year sabbatical as CEO of the private hospital Maria Middelares.
He is now full professor of medical technology at Ghent University and visiting professor at the KULeuven & Vlerick Business School (Be). He is chairman of the board of directors of Artevelde University College of Applied sciences & AZ Maria Middelares Hospital, the vice president of the Belgian Association of Hospital Directors and board member of the European Association of Hospital Managers.
He is member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and Arts, & board member of Medvia, the innovation cluster for health in Flanders (Be).
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