Over the last 12 months, COVID-19 restrictions eased and cases decreased, and the NCPS worked towards delivery of their mission to Improve Surgery in Ireland. The NCPS extends their gratitude to the HSE, RCSI, and colleagues across the clinical programmes and health services for their support and contributions, without which many of the events and achievements listed below would not have been possible.   

The European Association of Urology (EAU) in one of the largest Urological healthcare organisations in the world. The philosophy of the EAU is to place the patient at the centre of all its activities, including education, guideline formation and national and international urological healthcare policy. It has created a new dedicated Patient Office chaired by Professor Eamonn Rogers, NCPS National Clinical Adviser for Urology, who is also a board member of the EAU.

RCSI has published new guidance for Irish patients travelling abroad for surgery. The guidelines aim to support patients in making an informed choice regarding receiving a surgical procedure in another country, and provide a list of factors that should be considered prior.

This week it was announced that the CCO and HSE have approved funding for the National Perioperative Patient Pathway Enhancement Programme to roll out delivery in five hospital groups.

There were two phases of updates to NQAIS Clinical in 2022. These changes brought about significant improvements for users of the system.

The revised National Policy and Procedure for Safe Surgery launched in RCSI in September 2022. The Policy, developed by the National Clinical Programme for Anaesthesia, in collaboration with the NCPS and the National Clinical Programme for Trauma and Orthopaedics, endorses the principles of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist (2008) and the HSE Patient Safety Strategy 2019-2024 to ensure that all patients undergoing surgical procedures, do so safely.

Registrations are now open for the 2023 annual Charter Meeting.