HSE Public & Patient Partnership Conference 2026
15 October 2026
We are pleased to welcome you to the 4th HSE Public and Patient Partnership Conference.
The conference will explore what partnership looks like in real life, sharing learning from people with lived and living experience, as well as from professionals who work together across health and social care.
The event will bring together patients and service users, healthcare professionals, advocates, community organisations, researchers and leaders to share examples of partnership in action.
Together, we will look at what works, what we can learn from each other when we come together, and how we can make partnership a bigger part of how health and social care is planned and delivered.
Registration and online access |
In-person registration is now closed. |
The conference will be live streamed, allowing people who are unable to attend in person to participate virtually. |
Live stream begins: 9.30am on Thursday, 15 October 2026. |
Register https://app.oxfordabstracts.com/register/event/77791 |
HSE PARTNERSHIP CONFERENCE 2026
From Islands of Partnership to System-Wide Practice and Policy
Morning Agenda
TIME | SESSION / SPEAKERS |
08:30 | Registration and Partnership Marketplace |
09:30 | Welcome and Housekeeping Joe Ryan, National Director, HSE Public Involvement, Culture and Risk Management Iolo Eilian, Assistant National Director, Patient and Service User Experience Welcome from Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, Minister for Health |
10:10 | Fireside Chat Brendan Courtney, MC, with Anne O'Connor, HSE CEO; Mary Desmond Vasseghi, Patient Partner and National Partnership Council; Derek Tierney, DoH Secretary General |
10:45 | Break |
Session 1 | What the evidence and experience tells us? (11:15–13:00)
11:15–11:45 | Joe Ryan, National Director, HSE Public Involvement, Culture and Risk Management Professor Michael West — How do we build a partnership culture? |
11:45–12:30 | The Power or Influence of Lived or Living Experience Moderator: Derick Mitchell, HSE Strategy and Reform Board Committee Member They Didn't Live to See It: How Patient Advocates Who Died of Bowel Cancer Changed Irish Screening Policy Brendan Donlon & Liz Yates, Marie Keating Foundation Walking the Walk — Lived Experience with Addiction Services & Social Inclusion Daniel Jones & Brian Kirwan, General Manager Social Inclusion & Addiction Services |
12:30–13:00 | Breakout Sessions
Choose one of the following three sessions. 10 minutes each presentation and 10 minutes questions/discussion.
Hogan Mezzanine Suite | Nally Suite | Davin Suite |
National Mental Health Lived Experience Day; Partnership in Policy and Mental Health Structures | Partnership in how we design and plan our services | Embedding partnership in the structures of children's services |
Facilitator: Nicola Byrne, CEO SHINE | Facilitator: Miin Alikhan, Planning & Performance | Facilitator: Lucy Nugent, CEO CHI |
Embedding Lived and Living Experience in Ireland's National Mental Health Policy, Department of Health Oisin Murphy, DOH and Doreen Carpenter | Learning to Listen: Building Meaningful Patient Partnership in the National Office of Clinical Audit Marina Cronin and partner | Beyond Consultation: Parents as Partners in Developing the Sunflower Children's Hospice in Castlebar Siobhan Horkan and Elaine Mc Gloin |
Lived Experience and Partnership in Youth Mental Health Services Tammy Donaghay | From Islands of Partnership to System-Wide Practice: Developing an Age Friendly Hospital through Ongoing Collaboration Lynda Mc Grory and Lorraine Cunningham | Peer Support for Parents/Carers of Children Undergoing Rehabilitation Bess van Sleeuwen and partner |
13:00 Lunch and Networking
“Meet the co-authors”: Poster Viewing (50 Posters)
Session 2 | Why embedding partnership in health transformation matters? (14:00–15:15)
Choose one of the following three sessions. 10-minute presentations or panel, focused on partnership rather than project detail: why did you start, what changed, what almost failed, what should others copy. 15-minute discussion follows.
Hogan Mezzanine Suite | Nally Suite | Davin Suite |
Partnership and Equity in Population Health | Partnership Innovation in Our Structures | Translating Partnership in Operational Services |
Facilitator: Dr Jennifer Martin | Facilitator: Professor Richard Green | Facilitator: Professor Aine Carroll |
All Together Now: Lessons from Co-Designing a Population Health Approach for Ireland Ciara Kelly and partner | From Islands to Infrastructure: Embedding Patient Public Partnership in Digital Health Decision Making Ed Harte and partner | Building Wellbeing Together: Supporting People Living with Type 2 Diabetes through the COPE Programme Sinead Powell and partner |
From Lived Experience to System Change: Developing Ireland's First Health Equity Region Micheal Cronin and Anne Dee | Informing the Traveller Mental Health Action Plan: Statutory, Non-Statutory and Community Collaboration Darragh O Shea and partner | Co-designing the Integrated Service Delivery Model Angela Ryan and Kara Madden |
Supported Volunteering: Building, Sustaining and Embedding a Public and Patient Partnership Model Leonie Boland | Co-producing a National Community Cancer Support Network Dorothy Thomas and partner | Newly Formed Neuro-Rehabilitation Team: Embedding Sláintecare through Partnership and Co-Design Colm Harty and Beibhinn O'Connell |
15:15 Break
Session 3 | Why involving all partners is a focus? (15:30–16:30)
Choose one of the following three sessions. 10-minute presentations or panel, focused on partnership rather than project detail. 20-minute discussion follows.
Hogan Mezzanine Suite | Nally Suite | Davin Suite |
Partnership in Inclusive Accessible Practice | Partnership in Disability Services | Partnership with Underserved and Hard-to-Reach Groups |
Facilitator: Dr. Andy Phillips, REO Southwest | Facilitator: Professor Rosie Gowran | Facilitator: Jim Walsh, DOH Social Inclusion |
Helping to Create a Positive Difference Shannon O Farrell Molloy | Health Literacy Project for Deafblind Adults Sorcha Nallen and Carol Brill | Building a National Opioid Overdose Peer-to-Peer Prevention Programme Jenny Smyth and partner (HSE National Social Inclusion Office and Ana Liffey Drug Project) |
The Patient Empowerment Training Programme — a Collaboration Between PFPSI and HSE Southwest Lee-Ann Scott and Bernie O Reilly | When Families Hold the Pen: The Value of Lived Experience in Shaping Policy, Practice and Partnership Fiona Fox | The Refugee and Migrant Health Partnership (RMHP) Anne Cronin and partner |
Session 4 | What actually works? (16:30–17:00)
What partners and leaders can move towards in 2027 and beyond
Interactive session with Laura Kavanagh, National Patient and Service User Lead, Regional/National Partnership Council, National Partnership Lead contributions, and reflections from session facilitators and audience.
• Five things we would start doing today
• Five things we would stop doing tomorrow
• Five things we wish we had done differently all along
• What changes would you like to see by 2030?
• One thing I will do before Partnership Conference 2027