IGPNEA Wins Best Educational Meeting of the Year At Irish Healthcare Awards 2022" />
The Irish Medical Times has been the leading publication for the medical profession in Ireland for over 50 years. This year, they celebrated the 21st anniversary of the Irish Healthcare Awards, the principal annual awards for medicine and medical practitioners in the country.
The Irish General Practice Nurses Educational Association (IGPNEA) was shortlisted in the category of Best Educational Meeting and were absolutely delighted to have won the award for their Dermatology course. Delivered over ten modules, the course was designed in conjunction with Ms Sheila Ryan, a specialist in the field of Dermatology, and sponsored by Relife, part of the Menarini Group.
Accepting the award on behalf of the Association and her colleagues, Mary Jordan (IGPNEA National Chair) said, “this is the first time the IGPNEA has been recognised at the Irish Healthcare Awards. It was a great achievement for us to be nominated alongside some truly inspiring voluntary groups, who do fantastic work in their respective fields.”
“To be chosen as the winner in this category is a huge honour for the IGPNEA. It reflects the commitment of the association to designing and delivering meaningful and relevant training content for the benefit of our members.”
Ms Sheila Ryan, Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Dermatology, UL Hospitals Group added, “I am delighted to collaborate with the IGPNEA team on this really important course. The commitment of practice nurses across the country to their continuous personal development is great to see, all achieved on a voluntary basis and in their own personal time.”
General Practice Nursing plays a vital role in the provision of primary health services. GPNs deliver in excess of 7.5 million patient consultations annually and this figure is expected to rise to over 9 million per year by 2031. Under the Department of Health’s Sláintecare plan, General Practice Nurses will play an increasingly important role in the delivery of community based primary care.
However, unlike our HSE employed nursing colleagues, GPNs undertake their learning in their own time and at their own expense. Furthermore each GPN is employed locally by their GP, who in turn receives a subvention from the Department of Health. We believe this model is not sustainable in a modern healthcare system, and not viable as currently structured to deliver the ambitions of Sláintecare.
It is something that the Association will be discussing at length at our upcoming meetings with the Minister for Health and Chief Nursing Officer in the Department of Health. We want to work with our key stakeholders to move forward together and build a future fit for purpose community based healthcare service.
