Ms Sharon Ryan:

I am the operations lead for CHI at Temple Street. CHI thanks the committee for inviting us to participate in this discussion on an exciting and innovative new development for healthcare. Paediatric ophthalmology is a high-volume service in terms of activity with just under 23,000 outpatient and 690 surgical cases undertaken per year across CHI.

CHI wholly supports NERIECS and the work of the accountable care organisation. The principles of integrated care delivery that traverse regions and system-care settings are aligned with Sláintecare, the national paediatric model of care and CHI's mission. The VACO is a means of delivering integrated care between community and acute services as part of Sláintecare implementation and addressing the greatest operational challenge, which is timely access to treatment. Access is a challenge to this paediatric specialty. There are currently more than 2,000 outpatients and 574 inpatients and day cases on the waiting list for treatment. Delivering care through a network as close to home as possible is truly child-centred and ensures the most appropriate use of resources at the right level of care within the system. Progression towards an integrated healthcare system for children and adolescents is a strategic objective for CHI and the development of the VACO is timely in this regard.

While the integrated eye care network is commencing in the north-east region, it is envisaged that this network will serve the eye-care needs of all the paediatric population of Dublin. Future requirements and enablers to support this development are being accounted for in this design phase. Clinicians have estimated that up to 60% of patients attending acute paediatric eye care services are clinically suited to care at community level. Clinical governance is paramount to this and the acute setting can support clinical oversight in delivering integrated care. Examples of community initiatives in recent years include 1,250 outpatient appointments delivered by CHI at Temple Street and City West and 600 patients cared for in collaboration with CHO 9.