JOINT IHEEM NI AND ROI 2022 CONFERENCE
Irish public sector’s duty to ‘lead by example’
Giving the opening keynote at the joint IHEEM Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland conference held in May, Dean Sullivan, Deputy CEO and Chief Strategy Officer at Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE), stressed the importance of the public sector taking a lead in the drive toward Net Zero, and explained how the HSE would look to ‘inspire the necessary climate actions across all aspects of its operations, and indeed in wider society’, to achieve the Irish Government’s ‘very challenging targets’ for 2030 and 2050.
Titled ‘Delivering sustainable healthcare estates’ the two-day conference was organised by the two Irish IHEEM Branches in collaboration with the Institute’s Portsmouth Head Office team, and took place at one of Ireland’s most famous sporting venues, Croke Park in Dublin, from 16-17 May. The first day’s programme began with IHEEM President, Paul Fenton, welcoming delegates, and recalling that the only time he had actually stood on the pitch at Croke Park had been during a Robbie Williams concert back in 2006. Although not a great fan of the former ‘Take That’ frontman, he vividly recalled his rendition of ‘Let me entertain you’, and said he was sure the speakers would do the same for delegates at the conference.
Twenty years overdue Of the conference itself, he said: “I was speaking to (IHEEM ROI Branch Chair) Bill O’Reilly and (Northern Ireland Branch Council member) Nigel Keery last night about this event, and they told me it’s about 20 years’ overdue – having been talked about regularly, and indeed there’s been an ROI Branch for about 26 years. This event has been two years in planning – through a very hectic COVID period.” More recently, he noted, the ROI Branch had been ‘warmly welcomed’ onto IHEEM’s Executive Council, with Bill O’Reilly joining the Council alongside existing member, Nigel Keery, and a number of the Council were at the event. Paul Fenton praised the work of all his fellow Council members, who he said ‘all put so much into IHEEM’. He told delegates: “Bill and I have been talking about HTM and EU standards, because while the Republic of Ireland is still part of the European Union, where I sit in England, we are not. I think what this all opens up are our constant discussions about what IHEEM brings as a professional body. In fact, IHEEM expands the globe; we have members in many countries, so it will be a really interesting dynamic, looking ahead, to get a European, and indeed a global view, of designing hospital
18 Health Estate Journal September 2022
standards in our approach to maintaining our hospitals.”
A feather in one’s professional cap Paul Fenton said being part of IHEEM – as many attendees were, or would become if they joined the Institute – was ‘such a fantastic thing to have in your professional career’. While ‘not here simply to promote the benefits of membership’, he said he would like to read a sentence from IHEEM literature, which stated that the Institute’s members are ‘a community of highly respected professionals, with shared values and goals, providing a wide range of expertise and knowledge to support
the effective delivery of patient care’. He said: “That’s the reason why you’re here – because every one of you has played a part – at no other more important time than in the last two years through our battle against COVID. I just want to echo how proud I am of my profession, and of each and every one of you that have stood by the side of your clinical colleagues. We know we’ve had issues on oxygen, ventilation, and the built environment – all of which you have all had to address at a moment’s notice. I’m proud and grateful for all your efforts, all the hours you’ve worked, and your personal and professional commitment, so ‘thank you’.”
Dean Sullivan spoke via videolink in delivering his keynote address, which opened the joint IHEEM Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland conference in Dublin in May.
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