Established in 2013 the Patient Community Advisory Council (PCAC) was set up with the support of the Executive Management Team of TUH. The PCAC is dedicated to the improvement of quality in patient care at TUH and help support the Hospital’s values.
The group meets eight times a year provides an opportunity for the Hospital to hear directly from patients, users of our services on their experience during their patient journey with the Hospital. Provide feedback on current systems and processes in the Hospital and give their thoughts on new systems being introduced and generate new ideas to improve the standard of care.
The PCAC is composed of groups representing the Community along with staff of the Hospital.
| Declan Daly - Patient Representative & Chair of the PCAC |
Declan has a MBs in Co-operative and Social Enterprise and has worked in the financial sector for over 20 years in both voluntary capacity and also as a CEO.
Due to a long term chronic health condition, Declan became involved with the Living Well Programme as a participant, became a Volunteer Leader and has now completed his Master Training in Chronic Disease Self-Management and Cancer Thriving and Surviving. Declan has now shifted his focus to the Community Sector and is currently the Lay Co-Coordinator for the Living Well Programme with Fettercairn Community Health Project. Declan brings his understanding of the difficulties associated with reduced mobility to the PCAC and has the ability to articulate the voice of members within his community who have similar mobility issues.
Declan is committed to improving the role of the community in the development of TUH and its services, he is also the patient representative on the Quality, Safety & Risk Management Board Committee (QSRM) for the Hospital.
Tara De Buitléar – Community Representative |
Tara has worked in Financial Services for over 20 years across a variety of roles in operations, project management, product management, people management and strategic marketing communications. She is a graduate of University College Dublin and holds an undergraduate honours Degree in Business & Legal Studies and a postgraduate Masters in Business Studies.
A native of Tallaght, Tara is married with a young son. She is an active volunteer in Tallaght with a specific focus on community development. She is a member of the Tallaght Community Council for over 10 years. The Council runs key events such as the Tallaght Person of the Year Awards and Tallafest, both events which the Hospital participate and support. She also plays an active role in progressing positive developments for Tallaght from heritage, environment to the built environment. Tara is a very passionate advocate for the development of Tallaght and a support of the Hospital as it develops to support the health needs of the community.
| Áine Lynch - Director of Nursing & Integrated, Tallaght University Hospital |
Áine moved from the Adelaide Hospital to TUH on the day it opened on June 21
st 1998. She has spent almost two decades working in several positions at Tallaght including Clinical Nurse Manager II in Trauma Orthopaedics, Clinical Facilitator in Orthopaedic Nursing, Nurse Practice Development Advisor and Nurse Practice Development Co-ordinator in the Adult Services. In her earlier career, she also spent five years working abroad in both the UK and Saudi Arabia.
She moved from Tallaght University Hospital to the HSE in 2016 for just over a year where she initially worked as Nursing and Midwifery Planning and Development Officer and later held the role of Interim Director at the Nursing and Midwifery Planning and Development Unit (Dublin, South Kildare & Wicklow) for a period of nine months. This provided her with a unique opportunity to support nurses in all disciplines: midwifery, mental health, intellectual disability, public health and older persons care.
Áine was very happy to return to TUH in April 2017 as she believes it maintains a strong focus on ‘people caring for people’. Along with the nursing service, she is also executive lead for the Patient Advocacy, Pastoral Care and Arts & Health Departments and the Patient and Community Advisory Council.
| Carol Mullins - Patient Advocacy Co-ordinator & Patient Experience Lead, Tallaght University Hospital |
Carol Mullins is the Patient Advocacy Co-ordinator & Patient Experience Lead for Tallaght University Hospital. In this role she represents the patients of the Hospital who want to provide feedback on their patient experience positive and negative. She deals with the medical staff in resolving any questions or queries patients have about their experience during their patient care.
This Hospital service vice was established in 2002 by Carol and she remains the driving force behind the development of the service. The objectives of Patient Advocacy is to represent the patient voice, advise senior management on learnings and continuous improvement projects that can be established based on the evidence of feedback received, positive and negative. This all ultimately leads to the delivery of safer patient care which is the mission of the Hospital.
Carol has over 20 years’ experience working in healthcare. She has extensive experience in the delivery of front line services having worked as Administrative Manager in the Emergency Department before undertaking her current role. She has participated in the Patient Community Advisory Council since its establishment in 2012.
| Joanne Coffey - Communications Manager, Tallaght University Hospital |
In her role as Communications Manager for the Hospital, Joanne acts as the communications link within the Hospital and also to our surrounding communities, keeping everyone informed of news and events that take place involving Tallaght University Hospital.
A former volunteer tutor with the National Adult Literacy Agency, she has a great enthusiasm for keeping things simple and ensuring any information presented by the Hospital is done in an accessible way. As a member of the PCAC since 2014 she has involved the group in many different initiatives, such as the new hospital website, Know My Medicines and the Tallaght University Hospital Patient App. She makes every effort to ensure that the interests of the patient is at the forefront of everything that is developed by the Hospital.
She is also the key link between the Hospital and community in developing a growing popular series of Public Health Education talks. These events bring various members of speciality medical teams out into the community to educate on various health topics and answer questions from members of the public.
| Ciaran Young - Community Representative |
Ciaran Young is a lecturer in the Department of Mechanical engineering in the Institute of Technology Tallaght. He is a former patient of the Adelaide Hospital and Tallaght University Hospital. He has been a member of PCAC since 2012 and is currently its’ vice chair, he is also the patient representative on the Sepsis Committee for the Hospital.
| Fran Kane - Representative for Patients with Learning Disabilities |
A long term resident of the Tallaght area, Fran has a long history of supporting patient with learning disabilities. She has previously sat on the Board of Down Syndrome Ireland and was a very active fundraiser for the Dublin branch of the organisation. She has joined the TUH PCAC to share her experience of caring for a young adult with a learning disability and navigating her way through the services of TUH having transitioned with her son JJ from the children's service.
Fran is committed to contribute to the committee sharing her experience and looking at ways to help all patients that come into the Hospital to avail of its services.
