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This partnership will drive the Government’s digital healthcare strategy, said the HSE’s Damien McCallion.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) and HealthTech Ireland have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to examine existing and emerging tech solutions to improve patient outcomes and health service efficiency in Ireland.
According to the MoU signed today (22 November), the State-run HSE and HealthTech Ireland – an independent trade association for manufacturers, developers and distributors of health-tech solutions – will engage regularly, leveraging their knowledge and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to improve health services in the country.
“The HSE, HealthTech Ireland and its members are building on years of collaboration and a joint purpose on how to best deliver these technologies and innovations for the benefit of patients,” said Damien McCallion, HSE’s chief technology and transformation officer.
“Work is already underway with discussions taking place examining how to tackle the challenges facing our health service and this formalised relationship will help drive our Digital for Care [the Department of Health digital healthcare framework] strategy even further.”
“This MoU puts a formal structure around the collaboration that was already under way between HealthTech Ireland and the HSE,” said Susan Treacy, the CEO of HealthTech Ireland.
“Ireland has a thriving health-tech sector with 14 of the 15 global companies here and hundreds of start-ups coming out of Enterprise Ireland. We aim to help harness this expertise for the system and patients.”
There is a growing interest in leveraging emerging technology for the health care field. Spectrum.Life CTO Gary Coffey, speaking with SiliconRepublic.com earlier this year, said that the health-tech sector is poised for some “groundbreaking” advancements, changing the way we approach healthcare.
Innovation in the health service is badly needed. A recent EU e-health study put Ireland’s e-health offering in the beginner category along with Romania and Czechia in terms of enabling citizen access to health data electronically.
The country’s overall e-health maturity score was 11pc compared to Belgium’s 100pc, and Denmark and Estonia’s 98pc. However, Ireland’s new Health Information bill, approved by Government and published in July 2024, with an aim to digitise healthcare data might improve Ireland’s e-health standing.
HealthTech Innovation Awards
10 companies were recognised at the HealthTech Innovation Awards at a ceremony in Dublin yesterday, including Spryt International, which took home the ‘Best Indigenous Healthcare Start-up’ Award for its AI receptionist called ASA that patients can communicate with using standard messaging apps, while the University of Galway-Digital Health Continuum partnership was awarded the ‘Healthcare Collaboration’ Award.
Drogheda-based Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital won the ‘Most Transformative Impact-Digital Health’ Award for implementing a digital platform for remote monitoring and virtual assessments in an oncology setting.
“These awards are a unique coming together from across the sector,” said Treacy.
“Each of the winners is recognised by the judges for the impact they are having or will have, and their potential to deliver value and better outcomes for patients. They bring value in how healthcare is delivered through cutting-edge innovation and solutions.”
Here is the full list of winners at this year’s HealthTech Innovation Awards:
- Best in Sustainability – Tallaght University Hospital
- Best Indigenous Healthcare start-up – Spryt International
- Excellence in Service and Support – Wassenburg Medical Ireland
- Healthcare Collaboration – University of Galway and Digital Health Continuum partnership
- Indigenous SME: most innovative product or service – Syncrophi Systems
- Most Transformative Impact: Digital Health – Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda
- Most Transformative Impact: Diagnostics for Prevention – HSL- Brevera System
- Most Transformative use of IT – MED surgical – Zeiss Forum
- Most Transformative Impact: Medical Device – Synapse Medical-Mozart System
- Outstanding Contribution to Healthcare – Dr David Hanlon GP
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