The Inaugural RCSI National Theatre Effectiveness Conference – Thursday, 12 December 2024

The inaugural National Theatre Effectiveness Meeting, hosted by RCSI Surgical Affairs was held in RCSI on 12 December 2024. Seven sites across three Health Regions showcased their work on improving theatre capacity, access and flow for surgical patients following implementation of the National Perioperative Patient Pathway Enhancement Programme (NPPPEP). NPPPEP is a joint collaboration between the HSEs Strategic Programmes Office and the Surgical Affairs Transforming Theatre team who are the Technical Partners for this programme. NPPPEP is a Quality Improvement programme based on the Transforming Theatre design using four key elements of Management Structure, Management Systems, System of Measures and Improvement Methodology.

RCSI President, Professor Deborah McNamara welcomed 117 attendees from various disciplines across all Health Regions. The opening address was given by Mr Bernard Gloster (CEO HSE) and Mr Robert Watt (Secretary General, Department of Health). Dr Colm Henry delivered an overview of the journey of theatre effectiveness programmes to-date. Professor Eleanor Carton (NPPPEP Clinical Lead) presented on the NPPPEP design and approach. Ms Bridget Egan (Clinical Director, Tallaght University Hospital) spoke about NPPPEP from a Clinical Director’s perspectivefollowed by Shane Russell (COO Tallaght University Hospital) who explained the programme’s importance in supporting daily operational challenges. 

Presentations on the outputs, outcomes and impact of the NPPPEP programme were delivered by Laura Connolly (University Hospital Galway), Louise Veitch (St Vincent’s University Hospital), Dr Wouter Yonker (Sligo University Hospital), Mr Muhammad Umair (Midlands Regional Hospital Tullamore), Siobhan McCaffrey (St Michael’s Hospital), Darren Kenny (Roscommon University Hospital) and Alison Rothwell (Reeves Day Surgery Centre, Tallaght University Hospital).  The conference concluded with a panel discussion involving Mr David Mulvin and Cahal Flynn (St Vincent’s Hospital), Caroline Quinn (Sligo University Hospital), Ms Bridget Egan, and Noel Hemmings (Midlands Regional Hospital Tullamore) with Kieran Ryan (Managing Director Surgical Affairs) as moderator. Sessions were chaired by Deirdre McNamara (Director Strategic Programmes HSE) and Padraig Kelly (Associate Director Operations and Planning, Department of Surgical Affairs). Congratulations and thank you to all involved on the day and to the participating sites for their continuous commitment to this programme with the aim of using the theatre resource to better serve our patients.

For more information about the National Perioperative Patient Pathway Enhancement Programme (NPPPEP), please click here.