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HIHI’s Dr Steven Griffin joins the line up at the Smarter Health Summit 2023 Digital Technologies transforming delivery of health and care

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HIHI Galway Hub Manager Steven Griffin joins the impressive line up of speakers judges and panelists at today’s Business Post Smarter Health Summit.

He joins  speakers and judges at the 12.30 session and will participate in the “innovation on the front line” section of the agenda.

Dr. Steven Griffin
Manager, Health Innovation Hub Ireland
Graham Armitage
Managing Director, EIT Health Ireland-UK
Siobhain Duggan
Director for Innovation & Healthcare, GS1 Ireland
Yvan Gouttebelle
Vice Chair, the HBAN MedTech Syndicate

 

The panel of judges will have the opportunity to view the Innovation Showcase at the summit with digital solutions including:

  • A disruptive motion capture technology platform for gait analysis in healthcare settings
  • A multi-faceted emotional/mental health digital support solution with a private voice diary at it’s core
  • AI-driven solutions to minimise healthcare professionals’ administrative tasks and enhance the quality of patient care
  • A digital tool for patients to access and manage healthcare appointments, while also making the burden of managing multiple appointments easier on healthcare providers
  • An innovative digital health company developing a first-of-its-kind menopausal symptom tracker to guide diagnosis and management of peri-menopause.

For the full agenda – https://smarthealthsummit.ie/agenda/

To register your innovation and connect with Health Innovation Hub Ireland

Log on today our innovation portal https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/ef7a4fe4a083436fb8fa20df03f1b4a9

HIHI completes latest pilot study with Whyze Health. The company’s platform using real word evidence will aid in the delivery of more informed prostate cancer treatment for patients

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Health Innovation Hub Ireland have recently completed a pilot study with Whyze Health, a digital health start-up that pioneers a Real World Evidence platform. With a focus on personalised healthcare and research, the Whyze Health Platform ensures the “right” treatment reaches the “right” patient at the “right” time. Physicians and patients receive treatment and research recommendations through robust AI-driven data analysis.

Using patients’ health data and test results, the WHYZE Health Platform helps guides physicians on the treatment options that best meet their patients needs. The WHYZE Health Platform also tracks the patient’s progress and collects relevant Real World Evidence (RWE) health data throughout the entire cycle of the patient’s care, including follow-up. It aids the delivery of informed prostate cancer treatment plans for patients.

In Ireland, about 3,940 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. Using patients’ health data, test results, and Patient Reported Outcomes (PROMs), the WHYZE Health Platform aids physicians in selecting the treatment options that best meet their patient’s needs, driving better health outcomes for patients.

Feedback from patients and healthcare professionals was crucial to demonstrate the value of the Whyze Health platform. HIHI facilitated the pilot study in the Blackrock Health Galway Clinic.

HIHI assisted with ethics submissions and the development of surveys and supporting
documents necessary for the Blackrock Health Galway Clinic pilot study. HIHI also provided project management expertise throughout the project and facilitated regular update meetings during the pilot to track progress and outcomes and address any issues or feedback. Upon completion of the pilot study, HIHI reviewed the study data and completed a final Project Report for use in further platform developments.

Feedback obtained from the participants throughout this study has highlighted that a platform such as the Whyze Health platform would allow patients to feel more informed and significantly less anxious about their long-term health outcomes if their doctor used the platform with them when choosing a suitable treatment, they would find it easier to evaluate their choices for successful treatment, and they would be willing to share their anonymised health data with other patients and the research community.

Participants also noted the importance of being able to provide feedback on how they are responding to their treatment and having access to their medical records to help them to make better health decisions. 9 out of every 10 participants noted they would recommend the Whyze Health platform to a friend or colleague. Allowing patients to be active in their own treatment and healthcare planning while gathering essential data to help future patients may help to deliver effective care, reduce diagnostic timelines and improve patient outcomes.

Dr Tanya Mulcahy, Director Health Innovation Hub Ireland welcomed the completion of the pilot “By giving patients more control over their care an streamlining treatment options for physicians the Whyze Health Platform has the potential to improve health outcomes and advance the transition to patient centred healthcare”

Whyze Health explained the benefits of working with HIHI. “Whyze Health is enormously grateful to HIHI for their support in our first Case Study of our platform. Having a trusted research partner along with us was a great help in patient recruitment to our study and allowed our patients to feel part of something potentially important, not only to them but to other Irishmen suffering from prostate cancer. ‘Hats off’ to HIHI for their help here!”
(Professor Frank Sullivan CTO and co-Founder, Whyze Health; Medical Director Radiation
Oncology Blackrock Health, Galway Clinic).

Read the full case study here –https://hih.ie/downloads/case-studies/HIHI-case-study_Whyze_Health.pdf

Read HIHI’s latest clinical evaluation study with MedyTrak, an mHealth remote symptom tracker

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This July, HIHI is spotlighting our latest clinical evaluation study with MedyTrak, an mhealth remote symptom tracker designed to collect patient data between face to face consultations with healthcare providers. MedyTrak provides valuable real time data regarding a patient’s condition and allows the practitioner to obtain specific feedback leading to a more informed in-clinic consultation. An internet browsing service is facilitated by an NFC enabled card and the patient can upload photos and videos which leads to more informed treatment plans.

Read the full clinical evaluation study here https://hih.ie/downloads/case-studies/HIHI-case-study_Medytrak.pdf

MedyTrak aimed to explore the benefits and barriers to their platform and the procurement process.  A clinical evaluation is a key stage that allows feedback from end-users that can inform product application, market approach and offers the company to build a cohort of clinical champions and supports.  HIHI facilitated Medytrak by connecting the company with four clinical experts of orthopaedics and musculoskeletal medicine from the Mater Hospital, Cappagh Hospital, St. James’s Hospital and the Beacon Hospital. The feedback proved invaluable for MedyTrak.

Company Founder Tom O’ Connor explained the invaluable role of HIHI.

“The support we have received from HIHI has been invaluable. As a start-up company it can be difficult to navigate a route to experts and indeed to market, particularly in a relatively new industry such as mobile health(mHealth) technology. Through HIHI we gained access to clinical experts who shared significant insights into the challenges currently facing patients, healthcare professionals and the health system. This in turn brought clarity to the benefits MedyTrak, (mHealth remote symptom tracker and monitor accessible via a dashboard), can bring in terms of improving patient outcomes, refining clinician workflows and in
potentially providing cost savings to the health system.

These insights have helped to shape our strategy and have encouraged and motivated us to ensure we make every effort going forward to integrate this technology into treatment pathways. Industry experts believe that by 2030 mHealth technologies will have become firmly embedded within clinical practice and within standard treatment protocols for most diseases and conditions and will be widely used in prevention care. On behalf of the medytrak team, I would like to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to HIHI, our journey would have been much more complex and time-consuming without your support”.

 

Dublin communities set to benefit from new health and wellness pilots through Smart D8

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Smart D8, one of five Smart Districts of the Smart Dublin programme designed to improve health and wellbeing in an urban population, has today announced the successful applicants from their third call for pilot projects. Smart D8 is led by The Digital Hub, St James’s Hospital, Dublin City Council and Smart Dublin.

A record number of 60 applications from private and public organisations were received following the pilot call in March. Four projects have now been selected which focus on menopause, physical rehabilitation, exercise and sleep apnea and will share a €50,000 fund to advance their existing work:

  • Menopause and the City from Dr Louise Fitzgerald of Grafton Medical Practice/InforMD.ie: This pilot is seeking to create a better educational ecosystem around menopause health for both individuals as well as families and friends. A project with truly scalable potential, Dr Louise Fitzgerald is aiming for Dublin 8 to become the centre of the first city-wide approach to positive menopause education and support.
  • Brace from Conor Motyer: Brace is a community-based recovery app which seeks to assist patients who are undergoing physical rehabilitation. With an added focus on the mental wellness aspect of rehabilitation, Brace uses exercise tracking, gamification and community support to improve both recovery engagement and mental health outcomes arising from research that has found that rehab program completion rates can be as low as 50%.
  • MoveAhead from Dr Jamie McGann and Dr Johann Issartel: MoveAhead is based on years of clinical experience from both founders, as well as practical research carried out with the GAA which has found that children’s movement skills are deteriorating in line with increased use of screens and technology. MoveAhead is the world’s first motion tracking and movement analytics platform built specifically for children, which informs games to assist with improving children’s movement skills.
  • Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) Identifier from Dr Brian Kent/St James’s Hospital: OSA Identifier is seeking to reduce the wait time for a sleep apnea diagnosis, which is currently up to two years. OSA Identifier has developed an app to provide at-home data which can be reviewed by clinical specialists and both inform and speed up diagnosis and treatment options for sleep apnea.

The Smart D8 consortium is led by The Digital Hub, St James’s Hospital, Dublin City Council and Smart Dublin, together with the Guinness Enterprise Centre, HSE Digital Transformation, Tyndall National Institute, St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, Trinity College Dublin Research & Innovation, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute, National College of Art & Design, and Health Innovation Hub Ireland. 

AIMs project works concludes, as framework of recommendations to support SME innovation procurement is prepared

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The “AIMS for Health Innovation – All-Island MedTech SMEs for Health Innovation”, funded by InterTradeIreland’s SYNERGY programme, is a joint initiative between Health Innovation Research Alliance Northern Ireland (HIRANI) and Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI). The overall goal is to identify an improved adoption process within Health and Social Care (HSC) in NI and the HSE in Republic of Ireland (ROI), to support smaller SMEs and start-ups and encourage collaboration between industry and healthcare stakeholders. The partners will now develop a framework of recommendations to support SME innovation procurement in secondary care across the island of Ireland.

The project consisted of two in-person workshops with SMEs from NI and ROI held in March 2023 in Belfast, and May in Dublin. These included discussion around challenges for SMEs in health procurement. Following Workshop 1, a Working Group was established to seek input from healthcare and procurement representatives. The challenges identified were explored further via breakout groups at Workshop 2, held in May 2023 in Dublin. In addition to SME representatives, HSC, HSE procurement, policy and state agency representatives were in attendance for Workshop 2 to make recommendations that aligned with health procurement needs. These recommendations were discussed at the second Working Group meeting on 20th June 2023.

The framework of recommendations is currently being compiled and a full report will be published September 2023.

HSE Health matters covers HIHI national smart health TB study

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Excellent coverage in Health Service Executive summer edition of ‘Health Matters’ of our national TB smartphone study with St James’s Hospital Dublin. Results showed the smart health option would cost the Health Service Executive just 8 per cent (€300) per patient, compared to current system cost of €3,362 per patient, over a six month treatment period. Patient satisfaction increased and nursing time was cut from one hour to one minute per patient. More here: https://bit.ly/3r4n1bm p.24

Health Innovation Hub Ireland Becomes First EIT Health Bridgehead Catalyser in Ireland

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Ireland-UK, EIT Health Ireland-UK

Health Innovation Hub Ireland Becomes First EIT Health Bridgehead Catalyser in Ireland

21st June 2023

Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) has become Ireland’s first EIT Health Bridgehead Catalyser, aiming to facilitate the introduction of ground-breaking healthcare innovations from companies across Europe into the Irish healthcare system. By joining the EIT Health network as a catalyser, European health tech start-ups will have the opportunity to test and validate their solutions across HIHI’s hospital network in Ireland. HIHI as a Bridgehead Catalyser will help foster impactful advancements in the field of healthcare.

The EIT Health Bridgehead accelerator programme is designed to bridge the gap between promising healthcare innovations and their implementation in real-world settings by connecting companies with key stakeholders in target countries.

Through the Bridgehead programme, early-stage companies developing health tech solutions gain access to a network of Bridgehead partners, which include leading healthcare organisations, academic institutions, and innovation hubs across Europe. These partners possess extensive knowledge and expertise in their respective local healthcare systems, regulatory frameworks, and market dynamics.

“Being the first Irish catalyser in the EIT Health Bridgehead Programme, HIHI has an opportunity to bring new European ideas to the Irish marketplace to improve service delivery. At the same time, it allows them to gain access and exposure to participate as peers in a wider European innovation ecosystem,” said Marc Butterly, Business Creation Lead, at EIT Health Ireland-UK.

Established by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Health, supported by Enterprise Ireland (EI) and the Health Service Executive (HSE), HIHI works to drive collaboration between the health service and enterprise. Dr. Tanya Mulcahy, Director of Health Innovation Hub Ireland, (pictured above) said, “We are delighted to be Ireland’s first EIT Bridgehead Catalyser. Through this EIT Health programme, we will support companies from across Europe to access the Irish healthcare system, introducing new innovations and supporting better healthcare for all. We are looking forward to seeing some impactful innovations coming through the programme.”

With its deep understanding of Ireland’s healthcare landscape, HIHI is well-positioned to identify and support the adoption of transformative technologies, products, and services.

The EIT Health Bridgehead Programme offers an opportunity for HIHI to collaborate with European innovators and healthcare organizations, fostering knowledge exchange and driving collective progress.

WE ARE HIRING – Innovation Specialist HIHI Dublin (.8 FTE)

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The Purpose of the Role

HIHI wishes to recruit an Innovation Specialist to manage a portfolio of up to 20 health technology clients to lead the management and governance of pilot, validation and user assessment studies in Irish clinical settings. Central to the role, is working directly with Irish start-ups and SMEs to develop health technology products through testing and development projects. The Innovation Specialist will ensure the successful delivery of multiple, concurrent activities within their client portfolio, monitoring and tracking schedule, cost, quality and outcomes. This is an exceptional opportunity to be part of a leading national health innovation program. You will manage multi-disciplinary project teams of experienced clinical, commercialisation, academic and technical professionals dedicated to developing, scaling and growing Irish healthcare companies while improving the health system by meeting global and national healthcare needs.

The candidate will deliver a diverse range of innovative health tech projects for their clients – both industry and clinical teams and should be experienced in driving project plans forward, managing tight deadlines and remote teams for appositive result. The program requires the post holder to be a  strong communicator and independent worker with a clear focus on healthcare innovation and developments in health technology.

The HIHI Innovation Specialist will be based in the HIHI TCD hub in St James’s Hospital and will lead several projects across multiple site locations. The post holder will report to HIHI TCD Manager. The successful candidate will be an active member of the National HIHI Operations Team led by principal HIHI academic partner UCC. Informal enquiries about this post – HIHI Manager TCD, Eimear Galvin, galvinei@tcd.ie.

Context

The ambition in the 2013 ‘Action Plan for Jobs’ was to establish a world renowned Health Innovation Hub and in doing so Ireland as a leading location for start-ups and growing medtech and healthcare companies. A Cork demonstrator hub provided a scalable and clinically credible environment in which to launch Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) in 2016. A joint government initiative of the Department of Health and the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) is an Enterprise Ireland and HSE partnership. Providing a vital bridge between the health service and Irish innovators – understanding the evolving needs of the health system and the journey to market for enterprise. HIHI entered its second phase of five year funding from Enterprise Ireland in July 2021.

HIHI drives collaboration between the health service and enterprise, leading to the development of new healthcare technologies, products, and services. HIHI enables frontline piloting and testing, resulting in improved design or the validation to take a product to the next stage of development and commercialisation. HIHI also supports the building of an innovation culture within the health service through a suite of knowledge building resources and guidance for healthcare professionals and innovators on the key steps from ideation to adoption.

Operationally, a consortium of four academic institution (led by UCC with partners TCD, NUIG and MTU) runs Health Innovation Hub Ireland. Each PI is the official budget holder. The HIHI Managers report directly to the relevant PI and the local team (a mix of EI funded posts and HSE seconded posts) report to the HIHI manager. The HIHI Manager also reports into the HIHI National Director who leads the national team. The HIHI Innovation Specialists will work closely with HIHI TCD Manager and HSE/HIHI Clinical Liaisons, HIHI Galway, HIHI Cork, individual site clinical teams, Enterprise Ireland Development Advisors, industry partners and start-ups.

Main responsibilities

  • Manages own portfolio of HIHI health technology client companies (up to 20), liaising with Enterprise Ireland HPSU and Development Advisors to ensure commercial value to clients through pilot and validation studies.
  • Act as the lead broker between your companies and the health service (acute, community, primary care and individual clinical leads/teams) to identify appropriate study sites, leading engagement with the clinical teams, assessing feasibility of studies, drafting and securing formal project plans and agreements.
  • Define and implement each individual project plan per client – this includes but is not limited to project scope definition, work break-down, resource planning, schedule development, budgeting and reporting requirements.
  • Responsible for identifying and delivering bespoke study KPIs – outcomes delivered for clinical and company partners – e.g key success indicators: improved patient care and access, savings, site efficiencies.
  • Liaise directly with ethics committees as necessary per client – preparation and submission of applications, study protocol and Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) compliance.
  • Ensure intellectual property assets are managed appropriately – ensuring industry partner confidentiality as needed.
  • Manage project risk and change, and ensure project outcomes are delivered in accordance with the project plan and in line with the overall project objectives
  • Deliver strong and detailed reports on the progress of each project and the key performance indicators and deliverables to be achieved .
  • Manage and prepare HIHI study data (from your client portfolio) for publication.
  • Build and manage key relationships across Irish acute sites with a particular focus on creating a network of contacts in the Dublin area to raise the profile of HIHI.
  • Collaborate with local and national industry groups and representative bodies – Enterprise Ireland, IDA, Knowledge Transfer Ireland, Health Tech Ireland, IPPOSI, Digital Hub, GEC, etc, to support client work on development, funding options, commercialisation and market entry.
  • Build and manage close relationships with TCD Tech Transfer Office and across TCD Research and Innovation to support and advise client portfolio on issues relating to IP, spin out, product development and commercial pathways.
  • Liaise with HIHI colleagues in Cork and Galway and, where appropriate, manage HIHI projects in other HIHI locations.
  • Pro-active content creation, input and management of HIHI Knowledge Network (online toolkit for Irish health innovators).
  • Intelligence gathering and dissemination of trends and opportunities for EU funding.
  • Provides expert guidance on EU proposal development, eligibility and compliance.
  • Leads on writing high quality EU proposals for strategic, high value opportunities
  • Maintenance and regular monitoring of HIHI project notes and reports on internal HIHI Smartsheets and SharePoint systems (full training provided).
  • Represent HIHI at events, conferences and symposia.
  • Carry out other duties as appropriate to the post as may be assigned from time to time by the HIHI TCD Manager.

*The above role profile is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post.

Person Requirements

The role-holder will require the following knowledge, skills and attributes for successful performance in the role.

Qualifications

  • The candidate appointed to this post should have a degree in science, technology, engineering, medtech, health or business.
  • The successful candidate must have a minimum of three years’ project management experience in the health sector, or with industry- focused health technology projects.
  • Professional accreditation(s) in project management methodologies is an advantage.

Knowledge

  • Applicants must have significant (min three years) experience in an area of healthcare – within industry: pharma, med tech, med device, digital health start-ups, or clinical experience (no preferred discipline) in an acute site.
  • Demonstrable knowledge of the digital healthcare system, clinical and health technology landscape in Ireland.
  • Expertise in global research development and innovation technology trends, opportunities and challenges as they affect healthcare businesses.
  • A keen interest, understanding and insight into health technology, medical devices and good clinical practice to deliver effective clinical studies.
  • Clinical research knowledge /interest in clinical research.
  • Comprehensive understanding and knowledge of EU Funding trends and opportunities and EU proposal requirements, standards and criteria.

Experience

  • A record of achieving results independently in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.
  • Experience with designing and mobilising the project management process and implementing the entire project lifecycle to meet challenging deadlines.
  • Demonstrable experience of achievements in building networks, stakeholder engagement and relationships across sectors.
  • Demonstrable experience and evidence of client services roles with accountability responsibilities.
  • Extensive experience of portfolio management and ownership – managing multiple projects with competing demands.
  • Experience in managing multi-disciplinary project teams.
  • Experience of grant writing and supporting grant applications – up to date on EU funding trends, priorities and modalities as well as funding eligibility criteria and guidelines.
  • Experience in technology commercialisation, design, testing product development, IP, work with TTO
  • Experience and expertise in social media and digital content creation a bonus.

Skills

  • Ability to communicate, engage and convince at senior level with thought leaders across health and technology sectors.
  • Creative, patient, adaptable, and flexible with a knack for understanding client needs and developing innovative solutions.
  • Excellent written and oral proficiency in English (essential), excellent communication and interpersonal skills both written and verbal.
  • Ability to problem solve, to brainstorm and to generate innovative ideas and solutions.
  • Proven ability to prioritise workload and work to exacting deadlines.
  • Ability to negotiate access to resources in a matrix-type organisation.
  • Should possess excellent computer skills with experience of project management and collaboration tools.
  • Self-motivated, showing strong initiative and accountability for own portfolio of clients.

Personal attributes

  • Strong communicator
  • A leader who pays close attention to project requirements and proactively delivers.
  • Ability to learn quickly and adapt to changing requirements.
  • Client focus – the ability to provide an excellent client service focusing on client needs across project and commercialisation strategies.

Apply through: https://my.corehr.com/pls/trrecruit/erq_search_package.search_form?p_company=1&p_internal_external=E

 

Cork cousins develop compostable PPE apron to reduce plastic usage in Irish healthcare

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Cork cousins develop compostable PPE apron to reduce plastic usage in Irish healthcare

Updated / Saturday, 17 Jun 2023 07:13
By Eleanor Mannion
Two Cork cousins have developed a compostable PPE apron to reduce plastic usage in the healthcare industry.

Dr Mary O’Riordan and Lisa O’Riordan developed their ‘guilt-free’ HaPPE Earth apron in response to an increase in plastic pollution during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We had all become aware of the crisis around plastics production and pollution. A truckload of plastic goes into the sea every minute of every day. So it’s a major problem and we feel all sectors need to come together to solve it,” Ms O’Riordan explained.

Billions of single-use plastic PPE aprons are used globally each year.

Made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE), they can take up to 50 years to disintegrate.

The new compostable apron is made from proprietary resin and disintegrates in just five weeks.

An LDPE apron beside the compostable HaPPE apron

“The single-use plastic apron is something that’s used all the time and thrown away,” explained Dr O’Riordan. “We were speaking to one surgeon who went through 27 in one session.

“If every one of those is ten grams and each of those, if you count them up – in Ireland, there’s 50 million of them used every year then that’s 500 tonnes of waste in Ireland per year alone.

“So then, you extrapolate that out globally and you’re talking about hundreds of thousands of tonnes year-on-year of single-use plastic apron. And we thought, ‘Look, this has to stop’.”

The HaPPE Earth apron is CE approved for use in healthcare.

The apron was one of 11 winners of the Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) Open Call 2022.

HIHI conducted pilots in hospitals and nursing home setting to assess the usability, durability and acceptability of the HaPPE apron within healthcare settings.

Dr Ruth Lernihan, Chief Executive Helen Donovan, and Niamh Allen of SIVUH

Healthcare workers and catering staff at South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) in Cork were involve in the pilot scheme.

“In 2022, we used 700,000 aprons,” Dr Ruth Lernihan, Director of Nursing at the hospital said. “If you just think of that and the waste stream from non-clinical waste and the environmental impact of that and where that all ends up so we were delighted to get this opportunity.”

Becoming more sustainable is a priority for the hospital.

“Certainly, when you look at PPE, there is a lot of waste,” Helen Donovan, Chief Executive of SIVUH said. “As an elective hospital, we are in an unique position to look at our processes and how we do things.

“The multi-disciplinary team here who were involved in the trial, nurses, catering staff, cleaning staff, each one of those individuals has an unique perspective and contributed to patient care.”

During the pilot staff were asked to provide feedback on the compostable aprons.

“When staff were using them in the pilot, there was fierce results,” Niamh Allen, a Clinical Nurse Manager said. “They found them comfortable, less heavy, less static, more breathable which allowed them to feel more flexible in their daily order of work.”

With positive feedback from healthcare workers in the pilot schemes, Mary and Lisa O’Riordan now hope their compostable PPE apron will ultimately replace the 50 million singe-use plastic aprons used every year in Irish healthcare.

“Every time we see another one of our HaPPE aprons on someone in a healthcare setting, we know that we’ve reduced the use of another plastic one,” Dr O’Riordan said. “For us, that’s less 50 years in landfill.”

“It would be amazing to think that Ireland will be on of the first to pioneer bringing compostable consumables into healthcare,” Lisa O’Riordan said.

Watch the RTE video here

https://www.rte.ie/video/id/6574/

HIHI’s completes a climate smart healthcare case study with Irish company HaPPE Earth on the HaPPE apron a fully compostable PPE solution

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COVID-19 is still dominant across the world and climate change is to the forefront of the global conversation. Climate smart healthcare solutions are necessary to meet the problem of increased waste. According to WHO, during the COVID-19 pandemic, plastic production more than doubled, raising concerns about both the short-term impacts on fresh water, oceans and air quality, and the longer-term impacts of persistent nano-plastic particles.

The WHO Global analysis of health care waste in the context of COVID-19 report (Feb 2022) outlined the problems we face globally and what recommendations are necessary to combat them. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240039612

There is increasing global pressure at an economic, environmental and regulatory level to reduce single use plastics. At present, only 10% of healthcare plastic is recycled. During 2020, Ireland used 70 million and England 900 million PPE aprons.

Billions of PPE aprons are used globally each year. The global market is still 98% Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) usage with very little in the way of credible alternatives. This usage is set to continue year on year causing significant environmental and long term health harms.

As this dialogue continues internationally, 2 Irish female entrepreneurs Dr Mary O’ Riordan and Lisa O’Riordan have developed a novel innovative PPE product, the HaPPE Apron. This compostable PPE apron is suitable for use in healthcare and is CE approved and most importantly, in a world where the effects of climate change are growing, it’s environmentally friendly.

HaPPE Earth came up with a healthcare solution. The HaPPE Apron protects healthcare staff and adheres to water repellence, density and tensile strength of current LDPE single use apron. However, in contrast to the LDPE apron currently being used in healthcare, the HaPPE Apron is entirely compostable. The standard LDPE apron, used across healthcare takes about 50 years to degrade whereas the HaPPE apron composts in just 5 weeks with zero toxic residue. It is made from HaPPE Proprietary Resin composed of an innovative family of compostable materials. Initial calculations on the compostable HaPPE apron sees a reduction of 75% in CO2e (CO2  emissions) when compared to the standard LDPE single use apron.

HIHI conducted pilots in hospitals and nursing home settings in the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) in Cork and Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) in Dublin and Brindley Manor Nursing Home in Donegal, part of the Orpea group. HIHI supported this project by assisting the project team to engage
with stakeholders, collecting and analysing feedback and usage data and providing project management expertise during the project.

Dr Mary O’Riordan, Co-founder, HaPPE  explained the value of the HIHI pilots. “It was such a fantastic experience for HaPPE Earth to be part of the Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI). To see our compostable apron being used by frontline staff in the Irish Health Service and to get such support from the HIHI team was invaluable to us. It is through collaboration like this that we bring practical solutions to our health system. The HIHI programme is extremely well organized and supportive. We were delighted to be part of it and would encourage other innovative companies to participate. We give it a big HaPPE highly recommended.”

 Dr Tanya Mulcahy, Director, Health Innovation Hub Ireland applauded this green solution : “Worldwide, the healthcare sector is responsible for as much as 4.6 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. If Ireland is to make an impact, we need to look at innovative products that reduce carbon emissions while maintaining safety. The HaPPE apron is safe, equivalent to current PPE and is addressing sustainability- it’s also Irish! I am delighted that HIHI and SIVUH have demonstrated that this is a viable option for Irish and global healthcare, we are working on a second pilot in Tallaght University Hospital-wouldn’t it be great to see this product in use across our entire healthcare system”

Image Left to right pictured at SIVUH (Lisa O’Riordan, Co-founder HaPPE Earth, Johnny Brackett HCA, Niamh Allen, HIHI Clinical Liaison and HSE Clinical Nurse Manager, Dr Mary O’Riordan, Co-founder HaPPE Earth, Lily Matthews, Clinical Nurse Manager 1)

Read the full case study here https://hih.ie/downloads/case-studies/HIHI-case-study_HaPPE.pdf