In search of excellence in Irish health care

Abstract

As in the world‐wide context in recent years Irish health care has undergone much change, which has led purchasers and consumers alike to call for a more efficient and effective service. Many differing approaches are being utilised in an effort to become more responsive; however, only limited results have been shown. Thus, the search for excellence is both compelling and inevitable within the sector. Here one seeks to discern the elements that offer health‐care institutions the chance to excel from an organisational perspective in their quest to become more responsive and patient‐focused. Also provides details of some forthcoming research aimed at exploring the issues and outcomes of using the EFQM excellence model to support the search for excellence in Irish health care. A follow‐up article with the findings will be published in a later issue of this journal.

A study of the drivers of commitment amongst nurses

“…Pettigrew and Whipp (1991) have explored the role of "leaders, heros and chief executive officers" that are readily available, in those organizations intending to adopt innovative, high trust work relations in cultivating organizational commitment amongst employees. The use of highly visible, consciously designed and regularly occurring events and activities for the purposes of improving performance and to acquire positive attitudes, motivation and commitment has also been highlighted in the literature on commitment (Williams, 2005;Rogers, 2005;Downey-Ennis and Harrington, 2002;Breckenridge Sprout, 2001;Cameron and Mah Wren, 1999;Parrish, 1996;Curtin, 1993;Kinchen-Singleton and Nail-Hall, 1995;Dunham-Taylor et al, 1993;Townsend, 1991). It was found by Beil-Hildebrand in 2006 that management by walking about (MBWA) can significantly increase trust and improve attitudes, motivation, commitment, motivation, loyalty and job satisfaction.…”

Stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities regarding quality of care

“…A resource structure consists of person-related and physical and administrative environmental qualities, while the clients’ preferences have both rational and human aspects and may be considered in four dimensions – namely, the caregivers’ medical-technical competence, the care organisation’s physical-technical conditions, the degree of identity-orientation in the caregivers’ attitudes and actions, and the care organisation’s socio-cultural atmosphere. In addition, different general quality models and tools have been applied to assure and improve the quality of care, like the European Foundation for Quality Management (Favaretti et al , 2015; Leigh et al , 2005; Downey-Ennis and Harrington, 2002). However, to improve the quality of care, quality improvement and assurance models and methods must be applied more often in providing care services (Storey, 2013; Øvretveit et al , 2008; Heras et al , 2008).…”

“…In this context, the quality of care will require greater emphasis in the future (Antonsson et al , 2012). Social and health care service providers must ensure that their services are of good – even excellent – quality in order to fulfil the expectations of a responsive and effective service system with the optimised use of financial and other resources (Downey-Ennis and Harrington, 2002). Assessing the quality of care from different perspectives and understanding different stakeholders’ views on the quality of care are important (Antonsson et al , 2012; Firbank, 2012; Tepponen, 2009; Kahanpää et al , 2006).…”

The implications of management by walking about: a case study of a German hospital

“…Essentially, several accounts have been produced with the express intention of helping chief nursing executives (CNE) and others to replace worn‐out and dry traditional concepts with highly visible, consciously designed and regularly occurring events and activities, which provide opportunities for healthcare professionals to improve their healthcare performance and to acquire positive attitudes, motivation and commitment (e.g. Wiliams, 2005; Rogers, 2005; Downey‐Ennis and Harrington, 2002; Breckenridge Sproat, 2001; Cameron and Mah Wren, 1999; Parrish, 1996; Curtin, 1993; Kinchen‐Singleton and Nail‐Hall, 1995; Dunham‐Taylor et al , 1993, Townsend, 1991). Even though the above referenced healthcare management writers had not been familiar with the procedures of promoting high trust work relations as a social and normative clue and source of increased cooperation, they engaged with the reproduction of strong MBWA claims.…”