HEALTHCARE & SOCIAL SERVICES

Prospectus has core skills in the areas of strategy development and implementation, tailored to the specific demands of today's healthcare market.

What is strategy, There are many definitions but one of the best is that 'strategy is about helping you decide what not to do'. For healthcare providers, both public and private, being able to focus on the things they must do will be decisive for the success of their organisation and the quality of the health system overall.

Having worked with government departments, health agencies, major acute teaching hospitals, private hospitals and voluntary healthcare providers, Prospectus's deep understanding of the needs of healthcare organisations is unparalleled in the strategy consulting business in Ireland.

Prospectus has also worked with clients in the wider health system including pharmaceutical manufacturers, medical devices companies, retail pharmacies and health insurers.

This unique experience in the Irish healthcare market - together with practical, concise, straight-talking and value-added services - ensures that Prospectus has a positive and lasting impact on client organisations.

Outside Ireland - in conjunction with Eurogroup Consulting Alliance - Prospectus has developed a hospital strategy for Hôpital Notre Dame de Gosselies, Charleroi, Belgium and participated in a regional restructuring review for the Walloon Regional Hospitals, Belgium.

CREDENTIALS

STRATEGY

Beaumont Hospital
Having worked with Beaumont Hospital to develop its successful bid to become the Radiotherapy Treatment Centre for North Dublin, Prospectus continued to assist the hospital to progress the implementation of the centre. This involved:

• Playing an advisory and support role to the CEO and to the project team in positioning Beaumont Hospital as the future North Dublin Radiotherapy Treatment Centre
• Project managing the centre project group by identifying and progressing specific tasks for the implementation of the centre

Adelaide & Meath Hospital, Dublin Incorporating the National Children's Hospital
Prospectus worked with the management team to carry out an impact assessment, for the Board and senior management team, of the national health strategy Quality and Fairness (2001). Prospectus subsequently worked with the CEO to develop a strategy document, identifying the hospital's strategic priorities for the next 2 to 3 years, for Board approval.

Peamount Hospital
Prospectus conducted a strategic review of the hospital. This was a highly complex process involving all the key stakeholders from staff and management to the health board, funders and other service providers. The new strategy is based around Peamount offering rehabilitation, continuing care and independent living services.

Our Lady's Hospice
Prospectus worked with the CEO, Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of the Board to develop a new senior management structure. An integral part of the process involved identifying the most appropriate governance structures, including establishing effective reporting lines and clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the management team, the CEO and the Medical Director.

Galway Regional Hospitals
In light of the Department of Health and Children's initiative to foster public-private collaboration in healthcare, Prospectus was asked to continue working with the executive management team of Galway University Hospitals to establish scale and high-level descriptions of potential services/facilities which could be included in a private facility, to assess the implications for the overall site, and to prepare an outline business case for a related development option.

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI)
Prospectus assisted the RCSI in the development of a business continuity management plan to consider the potential impact, and plan the recovery, of any serious incident that would prevent the RCSI from continuing normal business operations.

Acute Hospitals Planning Forum (Cork)
Prospectus provided support to the Acute Hospitals Planning Forum in the development of an acute hospital strategy for Cork City Hospitals. The forum included representatives from Cork University Hospital, Mercy Hospital, the South Infirmary - Victoria Hospital, the Southern Health Board and general practice.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Religious Sisters of Charity
Prospectus designed new governance structures to merge a major academic teaching hospital and an acute private hospital under a single Board. Prospectus also worked with the Sisters of Charity and the Boards of the two hospitals to implement the new governance arrangements.

Peamount Hospital
Prospectus worked with the CEO, Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of the Board to develop a new senior management structure. An integral part of the process involved identifying the most appropriate governance structures, including establishing effective reporting lines and clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the management team, the CEO and the Medical Director.

Our Lady's Hospice
Prospectus carried out a review of the management structures and corporate governance arrangements of Our Lady's Hospice Ltd. The hospice's incorporation as a limited liability company in January 2002 involved changes to its legal structure, ownership, Board membership and responsibilities. These developments informed the review, along with governance best practice and hospice-specific issues. The assignment involved reviewing and redesigning the organisation structure for Our Lady's Hospice Ltd and developing a 'Charter for Good Governance' outlining roles, responsibilities and modus operandi for the Board and its sub-committees.

QUALITY

Mental Health Commission
Prospectus designed and managed a consultation process aimed at gathering the views and perspectives of all stakeholders on as to what constitutes quality in mental health services. The consultation involved stakeholder workshops, written submissions from the public and focus groups. A report detailing the outcome of the consultation was published in 2005.

Interim Health Information and Quality Authority
Prospectus delivered practical and relevant training to members of the interim Health Information and Quality Authority Board. Training covered corporate governance in the public sector and focused specifically on the roles and responsibilities of the Chairperson, Authority members and management.

INVESTMENT APPRAISAL / MARKET ASSESSMENT

IDA Ireland (Industrial Development Agency)
Prospectus assisted IDA Ireland in a feasibility assessment of the development of a bio-manufacturing/processing research and development centre. Prospectus also assisted the IDA and its partners (universities and research institutes) in progressing the project by:

• Determining the likely start-up and operating costs of such a centre, based on an agreed operating model
• Devising a strategy for the centre to move to a self-funding basis
• Developing a governance structure to drive the objectives of the centre

The National Institute for Bioprocessing, Research and Training is now successfully in operation.

PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP

Department of Health and Children
Prospectus assisted in the development of assessment criteria for additional private acute capacity on public hospital sites. Prospectus supported the Department in the development of a set of policy parameters to guide the Health Service Executive and potential partners in such developments on the terms and objectives that the State sees as underpinning this initiative.

Beaumont Private Hospital Phase 1
Prospectus reviewed a consultant grouping's proposal to develop a private hospital on the grounds of Beaumont Hospital. Prospectus's framework for assessing the proposal used appropriate criteria and involved interviewing key stakeholders and, where possible, further exploring the information provided in the proposal. This analysis enabled Prospectus to advise the Beaumont Hospital Board on the merits of the proposal and what the critical issues would be should it decide to proceed.

Beaumont Private Hospital Phase 2
Prospectus worked with Beaumont Hospital to develop the business case for the development of a private hospital on its campus.

BUSINESS CASE DEVELOPMENT

Radiation Oncology Bids
Prospectus worked with two major academic teaching hospitals to develop their business cases for the location of a radiation therapy facility on their grounds. Working with clinicians and management, this involved designing and structuring the business cases, ensuring the differentiators for the hospitals were highlighted, facilitating and project managing the drafting of the cases, and locating the key arguments in the context of wider reforms and strategic health service agendas.

Major Private Hospital
Prospectus assisted the development of the strategic rationale for a major private hospital to engage in the Department of Health and Children's initiative to build private facilities on public hospital grounds. This involved developing an outline bid in response to the initiative and designing a campaign plan for the positioning of such a bid with relevant stakeholders.

SERVICE REVIEWS

Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA)
Prospectus reviewed the arrangements in the Eastern Region for contracting beds for sub-acute and long-term care from the private sector. This study was one of a number of evaluations of service carried out by the ERHA in 2001 and was designed to look at the effectiveness and appropriateness of the existing arrangements and make recommendations for improvements.

As part of an ERHA Review of Child Sexual Abuse Services in the Eastern Region, Prospectus facilitated a number of workshops, involving management and staff from a range of disciplines working in children's services, which led to a number of specific recommendations on how the Child Sexual Abuse Services in the region could be improved.

SECTORAL ANALYSIS

Department of Health and Children
Prospectus completed an audit of the Irish health system to ensure that its various component organisations are properly aligned to deliver on the goals of the national health strategy. The functions and governance arrangements of fifty-eight individual organisations were examined. The purpose of the audit was to ensure clear lines of accountability and communication between each part of the system, to eliminate overlap or duplication between organisations, and to achieve a proper alignment of the structure as a whole to the vision and objectives outlined in the health strategy. The results of the audit were incorporated into the government's health service reform programme and form the basis for the ongoing restructuring of the Irish health service.

HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Private hospital
Prospectus conducted research on developments in the private medical insurance market, in Ireland and internationally, with a view to informing the client's development plans and its relationship with health insurers, health boards and the Department of Health and Children.

Sample Client List