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BESTBUSINESSHEALTHCARE …alphaprimarycare.com/DOC/Mallow.pdf · turnkey project management...
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A e25 million healthcare facility in Mallow, Co Cork will be fully opera- tional in early January, and will bring together in one location the three leading private gener- al practices in the town, as well as the Health Service Execu- tive (HSE) local health area of- fices and other healthcare- related tenants. Designed and specified with the organisations which will be based there, the Mallow Pri- mary Healthcare Centre (MPHC) is a 70,000 square foot facility over three floors with separate suites for the var- ious practices and services. MPHC services will include cardiac assessment and screen- ing, respiratory laboratory, oc- cupational health, women’s and men’s health clinics, sports health, dermatology, nutrition and dietetics, travel health, health screening, psychology and counselling, minor sur- gery, primary care diagnostic services, baby clinic, chiro- practic, osteopathy and podia- try services. ‘‘The key point for the com- munity is that MPHC will bring together in one location almost all of the non-hospital healthcare services that people might need,’’ said Dr David Molony, GP and senior partner in the Red House family prac- tice, who speaks for the three medical practices that were the prime movers of the pro- jects. The other practices are the Medical Centre and the Cork Road Clinic. ‘‘Our patients will meet their own doctors and familiar faces, but the shared service fa- cility means everyone has a one-stop shop in a new, plea- sant and technically-advanced environment,’’ Molony said. ‘‘We have co-operated as prac- tices and local GPs over the years, and began this project as a joint venture back in 2004.’’ The project has been funded by the participating practices, totalling 14 doctor partners, underwritten by the tenancies of the three practices and the HSE. SouthDoc, the co-opera- tive call-out and locum ser- vice, will be based there, and other health-related services are in discussions. ‘‘It is important that the practices keep their separate identities and character,’’ Mol- ony said, ‘‘but we are also in a new era of medicine and tech- nology, where the sharing or pooling of some key resources makes sense for us and for the community.’’ An interesting structure for the pooled resources is what the participants are calling the ‘fourth practice’. In effect, spe- cialist healthcare services that would be uneconomic or inef- ficient for each practice to own separately will be provided through this co-owned fourth practice. That could include highly specialised diagnostic equipment, for example, or the services of a doctor with un- ique expertise and experience in a specific area. Acknowledging that doctors have neither the skills nor the time to push through such a project, the services of Alpha Healthcare and Jack Nagle were commissioned to manage the project on their behalf. ‘‘It took us several years to find a suitable site,’’ Molony said. ‘‘Then, we had negotia- tion and legal issues with the HSE that took nearly two years, largely because this was a unique initiative, certainly at the early stages.’’ The building was designed by Devereux Architects, a practice within the PM Group, the project manager of the con- struction, which has extensive healthcare facility experience in Ireland and Britain. ‘‘The practices had detailed input into their requirements in terms of space, layout, pa- tient flow through the building and the permanent technical infrastructure,’’ Nagle said. ‘‘We got right down into the nitty-gritty of the ICTsystems they use and would like to use in the future. ‘‘Every clinical room has a minimum of four data points, and the entire facility is cabled with Cat6 throughout and fi- bre-optic links from each suite to a shared ‘comms’ room, ef- fectively a small communal data centre.’’ BEST BUSINESS HEALTHCARE Dr David Molony and Dr Harry Casey at the site of the new primary healthcare facility in Mallow, Co Cork A new primary care centre will set high standards for the rest of the country to follow. Leslie Faughnan reports PROJECTS Mallow leads way in primary care n34 THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST SEPTEMBER 27 2009 By Leslie Faughnan Project management for the new Mallow Primary Healthcare Centre is the responsibility of Jack Nagle, founder and managing director of Alpha Healthcare, a consultancy specialising in support for GP group practices and primary care centres. Nagle is an engineer with senior management experience in medical devices and other areas, who saw that healthcare professionals would need support for practice management and projects demanding business and technical skills they could not be expected to have. ‘‘Mallow is a very good example, because it is sizeable and is an initiative from a go-ahead set of doctors in practice who knew what they wanted to achieve, and got the HSE on board at an early enough stage for the facility to be designed to suit the requirements of all of its major tenants,’’ Nagle said. He could have added that, as the son of a local GP himself, he also had a unique knowledge of the area and the community. Since there are about 200 primary care facilities of various scales set to be developed around the country under the new health strategy for local care delivery, Alpha Healthcare already has a large portfolio of clients. ‘‘We now have over 40 medical centres around the country on our books for practice management and related consultancy,’’ Nagle said. ‘‘We are also involved in 17 projects for the development of shared primary care facilities. Just like Mallow, these are turnkey project management contracts. The clients tell us what they want to achieve, and we are responsible for making it all happen, from concept to keys.’’ For the Mallow project, Alpha was involved in all aspects from the negotiations with the Health Service Executive (HSE) to the briefing of the architects and liaison with the construction and building services teams. ‘‘MPHC is a good model in ICT terms,’’ Nagle said. ‘‘The design allows for a comms room that is like a data centre with co-location. The entire building is Cat6 cabled with a generous allocation of access points. Each suite is then linked by fibre-optic to the comms room, where each tenant’s principal servers will be sited.’’ That provides for whatever network design each business unit chooses and internal data traffic growth well into the future. Phone and internet access with a future proof level of capacity comes direct to the comms facility to be shared by the individual business subscribers through the building. ‘‘Medical data traffic is becoming more and more intensive, with shared diagnostic imaging and telehealth developments including video- conferencing,’’ Nagle said. ‘‘It is also to be assumed that most of the tenants will be using or moving to VoIP telephony. MPHC is equipped to deal with all of that for the foreseeable future.’’ A good example is the top floor education suite. MPHC is an education partner of UCC medical school, and will have registrars and students on work experience – as well as researchers from projects in which its own clinicians are involved. ‘‘That separate suite offers separation from the busy practices and is expected to be used for education sessions that could include video links with Cork, hospitals or multimedia training resources,’’ Nagle said. ‘‘Linking primary and secondary care and the academic and training aspect of healthcare is very much part of the joined up 21st century environment we all want to see.’’ Pulling it all together Architect’s visualisation of the Mallow Primary Healthcare Centre Dr Thomas Carroll, of the Mallow Primary Healthcare Centre; and Jack Nagle, of Alpha Healthcare
Transcript of BESTBUSINESSHEALTHCARE …alphaprimarycare.com/DOC/Mallow.pdf · turnkey project management...
A e25 millionhealthcarefac i l ity i nMallow, CoCork will befully opera-
tional in earlyJanuary, andwillbring together in one locationthe three leading private gener-al practices in the town, as wellas the Health Service Execu-tive (HSE) local health area of-fices and other healthcare-related tenants.Designed and specifiedwith
the organisations whichwill bebased there, the Mallow Pri-mary Healthcare Centre(MPHC) is a 70,000 squarefoot facility over three floorswith separate suites for the var-ious practices and services.MPHC services will include
cardiac assessment and screen-ing, respiratory laboratory, oc-cupational health, women’sandmen’s health clinics, sportshealth, dermatology, nutrition
and dietetics, travel health,health screening, psychologyand counselling, minor sur-gery, primary care diagnosticservices, baby clinic, chiro-practic, osteopathy and podia-try services.‘‘The key point for the com-
munity is that MPHC willbring together in one locationalmost all of the non-hospitalhealthcare services that peoplemight need,’’ said Dr DavidMolony,GPand senior partnerin the Red House family prac-tice, who speaks for the threemedical practices that werethe prime movers of the pro-jects. The other practices arethe Medical Centre and theCork RoadClinic.‘‘Our patients will meet
their own doctors and familiarfaces, but the shared service fa-cility means everyone has aone-stop shop in a new, plea-sant and technically-advancedenvironment,’’ Molony said.
‘‘We have co-operated as prac-tices and local GPs over theyears, and began this projectas a joint venture back in2004.’’The project has been funded
by the participating practices,totalling 14 doctor partners,underwritten by the tenanciesof the three practices and theHSE. SouthDoc, the co-opera-tive call-out and locum ser-vice, will be based there, andother health-related servicesare in discussions.‘‘It is important that the
practices keep their separateidentities and character,’’ Mol-ony said, ‘‘but we are also in anew era of medicine and tech-
nology, where the sharing orpooling of some key resourcesmakes sense for us and for thecommunity.’’An interesting structure for
the pooled resources is whatthe participants are calling the‘fourth practice’. In effect, spe-cialist healthcare services thatwould be uneconomic or inef-ficient for each practice to ownseparately will be providedthrough this co-owned fourthpractice. That could includehighly specialised diagnosticequipment, for example, or theservices of a doctor with un-ique expertise and experiencein a specific area.Acknowledging that doctors
have neither the skills nor thetime to push through such aproject, the services of AlphaHealthcare and Jack Naglewere commissioned tomanagethe project on their behalf.‘‘It took us several years to
find a suitable site,’’ Molonysaid. ‘‘Then, we had negotia-tion and legal issues with theHSE that took nearly twoyears, largely because this wasa unique initiative, certainly atthe early stages.’’The building was designed
by Devereux Architects, apractice within the PMGroup,the projectmanagerof the con-struction, which has extensivehealthcare facility experiencein Ireland and Britain.‘‘The practices had detailed
input into their requirementsin terms of space, layout, pa-tient flow through the buildingand the permanent technicalinfrastructure,’’ Nagle said.‘‘We got right down into thenitty-gritty of the ICTsystemsthey use and would like to usein the future.‘‘Every clinical room has a
minimum of four data points,and the entire facility is cabledwith Cat6 throughout and fi-bre-optic links from each suiteto a shared ‘comms’ room, ef-fectively a small communaldata centre.’’
BESTBUSINESSHEALTHCARE
Dr David Molony and Dr Harry Casey at the site of the new primary healthcare facility in Mallow, Co Cork
A new primary care centre willset high standards for the rest ofthe country to follow.Leslie Faughnan reports
PROJECTS
Mallow leads way in primary care
n34THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST
SEPTEMBER 27 2009
By Leslie Faughnan
Project management for the new MallowPrimary Healthcare Centre is theresponsibility of Jack Nagle, founder andmanaging director of Alpha Healthcare, aconsultancy specialising in support for GPgroup practices and primary care centres.
Nagle is an engineer with seniormanagement experience in medicaldevices and other areas, who saw thathealthcare professionals would needsupport for practice management andprojects demanding business andtechnical skills they could not be expectedto have.
‘‘Mallow is a very good example,because it is sizeable and is an initiativefrom a go-ahead set of doctors in practicewho knew what they wanted to achieve,and got the HSE on board at an earlyenough stage for the facility to be designedto suit the requirements of all of its majortenants,’’ Nagle said.
He could have added that, as the son ofa local GP himself, he also had a uniqueknowledge of the area and the community.
Since there are about 200 primary carefacilities of various scales set to bedeveloped around the country under thenew health strategy for local caredelivery, Alpha Healthcare already has alarge portfolio of clients.
‘‘We now have over 40 medical centresaround the country on our books forpractice management and relatedconsultancy,’’ Nagle said. ‘‘We are alsoinvolved in 17 projects for thedevelopment of shared primary carefacilities. Just like Mallow, these areturnkey project management contracts.The clients tell us what they want toachieve, and we are responsible formaking it all happen, from concept tokeys.’’
For the Mallow project, Alpha was
involved in all aspects from thenegotiations with the Health ServiceExecutive (HSE) to the briefing of thearchitects and liaison with theconstruction and building services teams.
‘‘MPHC is a good model in ICTterms,’’ Nagle said. ‘‘The design allowsfor a comms room that is like a datacentre with co-location. The entirebuilding is Cat6 cabled with a generousallocation of access points. Each suite isthen linked by fibre-optic to the commsroom, where each tenant’s principalservers will be sited.’’
That provides for whatever networkdesign each business unit chooses andinternal data traffic growth well into thefuture. Phone and internet access with afuture proof level of capacity comes directto the comms facility to be shared by theindividual business subscribers throughthe building.
‘‘Medical data traffic is becoming moreand more intensive, with shareddiagnostic imaging and telehealthdevelopments including video-conferencing,’’ Nagle said. ‘‘It is also to beassumed that most of the tenants will beusing or moving to VoIP telephony.MPHC is equipped to deal with all of thatfor the foreseeable future.’’
A good example is the top flooreducation suite. MPHC is an educationpartner of UCC medical school, and willhave registrars and students on workexperience – as well as researchers fromprojects in which its own clinicians areinvolved.
‘‘That separate suite offers separationfrom the busy practices and is expected tobe used for education sessions that couldinclude video links with Cork, hospitals ormultimedia training resources,’’ Naglesaid. ‘‘Linking primary and secondarycare and the academic and training aspectof healthcare is very much part of thejoined up 21st century environment we allwant to see.’’
Pulling it all together
General practices need specialist ITBy Post Reporter
With a client portfolio of eightgeneral practices and about 40GPs, CompleteGP is the newplayer as far as Irish healthcaresoftware is concerned. It wasset up in 2006 and is alreadyon four practice managementsuites accredited by theGener-al Practitioner InformationTechnology (GPIT) group ofthe Irish College of GeneralPractitioners.‘‘It all started when Dr Da-
vid Molony, now so much partof the MPHC project, askedme to look at the system hispractice was using and whichthe UK-based vendors werenot really interesting in sup-porting any longer,’’ said CarlBeame, chief technology offi-cer of CompleteGP, the com-pany that was subsequently setupwithMolony as a director.Beame, a Canadian soft-
ware engineer who came toIreland and was ‘‘semi-re-tired’’, said that the ever-grow-ing demands of a modernmultidisciplinary medicalpractice caught his profes-sional interest.‘‘As I got into it and looked
at what te chnology wasaround, I became convincedthere were better ways of doinga lot of the things involved,’’ hesaid.That ended up as a fresh
software solution, incorporat-ing some elements that wereactually Molony’s copyright,and a blank sheet approach todesigning the elements fromthe interface with Healthlink,to automating the capture of
information from high tech di-agnostic equipment.‘‘Clunky database manage-
mentwas an issue, for example,with the original system slow-ing down as the number of pa-tient records grew,’’ he said.It was clear that Beame and
Molony had a saleable pack-age. The reaction from GPswho saw the CompleteGP sys-tem in action led to early adop-tion, spurred on by the GPITaccreditation in 2007.An example of the practical
approach to usability in thesoftware is that there are tem-plates and auto-fill features forall standard reports, referralsand correspondence.‘‘But the system can use
standard officeWP software,from basicWordPad to the lat-est edition ofMicrosoftWord,’’Beame said.It is certainly working for
Tobin Healthcare Centre, theWestport multi-disciplinarypractice which is led by broth-ers Dr Richard Tobin, a GP,and dental surgeon Dr LeoTo-bin. Its other clinicians includeophthalmologist Dr KatherineTobin, and practice nurses.‘‘We have a network of over
20 PCs spread over threefloors,’’ Richard Tobin said.‘‘They serve about a dozen ofus in the practice. The idea isthat we can access informationat any time, where we are orwhere the patient is.The ECGis on the ground floor, and Imight want to view it on thethird floor or consult about itwith a colleague somewhereelse. All of that is quick andeasy.’’A self-confessed technology
enthusiast, Dr Tobin qualified
as a physicist before taking upmedicine, and has extensivepersonal experience of soft-ware programming.The give-away is the headset which ishis interface to his Dragonspeech-to-text dictation sys-tem, a tool for daily use in get-ting information into thesystem.‘‘I set up our initial software
system in 1986,whichwas fairlysimple demographic and pa-tient record stuff,’’ he said. ‘‘Itwas developed and extendedover the years, but in today’sworld of high-tech diagnosticsystems and tight mandatorystandards and accreditationfor healthcare software, it is
clearly best to go to current ex-perts.’’Having done the market re-
search, Tobin is very happywith CompleteGP, and espe-cially with the professional re-lationship he has formed withBeame.‘‘We needed all of the nor-
mal practice managementfunctionality, plus some be-spoke elements, because of thenature of our centre and thewide range of clinical disci-plines,’’ Tobin said.‘‘It has all come together,
fully integrated and ready forany new clinical or technicalelements we may decide on inthe future.’’
Architect’s visualisation of the Mallow PrimaryHealthcare Centre
Dr Thomas Carroll, of the Mallow Primary Healthcare Centre; and Jack Nagle, ofAlpha Healthcare
Dr David Molony and Carl Beame of Complete GP
