€28k for 28 days’ consultancy in HSE ‘person-centred culture’ project

The Executive’s National Programme to Enable Cultures of Person-Centredness involves developing work-based facilitators to “lead culture change that supports person-centred practice within their own services”. The programme is delivered in partnership with Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK.

According to information released to the Medical Independent (MI) following a Freedom of Information (FoI) request, the HSE has a service level agreement with Queen Margaret University following a tender process.

The agreement is “to provide 28 days of consultancy per year for three years of a practice development programme to develop cultures of person-centredness”. The cost is €27,972 per year for three years, with a total cost of €83,916. The consultant is Prof Brendan McCormack, who has undertaken “internationally-recognised work in person-centred practice development and research”, according to the university’s website.

Separately, MI also sought consultancy fees associated with another HSE culture change project called Caring Behaviours Assurance System — Ireland (CBAS-I).

According to the HSE, a contract was awarded to Choice Dynamic International following a tender process.

The cost of development and roll-out of CBAS-I since its commissioning to date was €122,708. MI understands the project was commissioned in 2015.

The HSE FoI decision-maker said she had been informed that the project was regularly evaluated and “expected milestones are being met”. Over 12,000 staff had benefitted from the CBAS-I programme across the health and social care system.