The Rotunda Hospital is the oldest standalone maternity hospital in the world. It provides maternity and gynaecological services to the women of Ireland, as well as care to neonates. It is currently the busiest maternity hospital in the state and is recording increases in services despite a national decrease in birth rates.
The Rotunda is a Section 38 Voluntary Hospital, providing healthcare services under a contracted service level agreement to the Health Service Executive (HSE).
It’s amazing what you can achieve when you don’t care who gets the credit
As head of finance and procurement, my role is multi-faceted, to say the least. Day-to-day work includes accounting and systems, such as financial accounting, management accounting and systems; employee pay and relations, covering pay, pensions and the Rotunda’s time management systems project; financial operations, which includes accounts receivable and patient accounts, accounts payable and treasury management; and procurement and supplies, covering the purchasing of consumables, tendering within public procurement guidelines and contract management.
My role is particularly interesting as the Rotunda Hospital is a community of people as much as an organisation. The work is very important to recipients of healthcare here and their partners and families. There is a good feeling about being part of that, which might not be there in a profit driven/commercial organisation.
Our department goal is to ensure that we aid the mission of the hospital, which is to excel in the delivery of safe, innovative and responsive services for women and their families. In the Rotunda’s role as the major tertiary referral hospital and the designated regional lead, we will continue to develop sub-specialist care and shape national policy. This will be underpinned by a strong commitment to the values of voluntarism, staff excellence, efficient use of resources, promotion of research and education, and enhanced alliances with our strategic partners.
We are especially concerned on the efficient use of resources, but also ensuring that we support the rest of the hospital in whatever way we can.
My experience working in the health sector during the pandemic has confirmed that this is an area people see more as a vocation than an occupation. The commitment of staff to adapt to the new situation and operate was very impressive.
The HSE, to its credit, was very supportive of funding us for measures that we needed to put in place with regard to ensuring extra equipping, staffing and capital works.
My hope for the Rotunda is that we achieve the developments that the executive management team and board have been striving for in relation to service and strategic developments, as well as some major capital developments. I would also hope to see a return to normality following on from the pandemic that may allow the return of full partner involvement with pregnancies.
Specifically, for the finance and procurement department, I am hoping that we develop increased technological capacity and create easier ways for the hospital to engage with and be supported by the finance and procurement function.
There are many important lessons that I have learned throughout my career. Among the most important are: it’s amazing what you can achieve when you don’t care who gets the credit; when you are thinking about change, first ask yourself ‘if you were to build a new organisation in the morning, what would it look like?’; always make your boss look good; and strive to make a positive difference every day.
