General Overview and Quality Assurance

1 Introduction UPMC Beacon Hospital is a full service hospital which comprises 238,000 square feet over 9 floors with a capacity of 214 beds. UPMC Beacon Hospital is operated by UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre).The hospital combines the best in Irish and US healthcare. It has the most up-to-date Radiology systems, including MRI, CT scanner with cardiac capabilities, CT Sim, and PET/CT. It also features Digital Radiology suites with advanced Mammography, Nuclear Medicine, and Ultrasound, as well as Angiography suites and lab with advanced single-plane and bi-plane systems and Flouroscopy.

It has 2 Endoscopy suites, a state of the art Oncology day treatment centre, and therapeutic radiography with LINAC- linear accelerator.

UPMC Beacon Hospital has 14 Critical Care Beds individually capable of isolating any patient. UPMC Beacon Hospital offers highly advanced IT systems – which offer electronic medical record capabilities and remote access to clinical information for doctors – GPs and consultants. This means that any doctor can access their patients chart from a remote office and act accordingly.

Some of the services which UPMC Beacon Hospital offers include an Emergency Department, which is also consultant-led.

Operational Quality Management  UPMC Beacon Hospital has been awarded the prestigious and voluntary Joint Commission International Award (JCI) in recognition of the hospitals commitment to providing quality care on an on-going basis. This accreditation is a testament to UPMC Beacon Hospital’s commitment to continually raising levels of quality and standards (including safety and hygiene) within every section of the organisation. The JCI Hospital standards are intended to stimulate continues systematic and organisation-wide improvement in daily performance and in the outcomes of patient care. Patients are treated according to internationally recognised quality standards and European Best Practice Guidelines.

 Our multidisciplinary approach to care provides the most comprehensive care for each patient. This approach allows us to utilize the skills of specialists in every discipline to determine the most effective and complete treatments for all types of diagnosis.

 Comprehensive and proven systems for assessing and improving the quality of patient care are an integral part of the operation to ensure control of the patient process. These include implementation of procedure manuals, staff training programmes and self-audit.

 All Policies and Procedures are in line with current best practise guidelines and legislation and include procedures for clinical procedures, reporting accidents, infection control, health and safety and dangerous occurrences. Our Policies and Procedures are designed to comply with JCI standards andnational guidelines. All staff are trained in the use of the Policies and Procedures as part of their induction-training programme.

 The nursing philosophy in UPMC Beacon is a collaborative approach where compassion and care are delivered through touch, a kind act, through competent clinical interventions or through 2

listening and seeking to understand the others experience. The nursing philosophy is relationship-based with therapeutic presence - where patients are treated primarily as individuals with individual needs.

UPMC Beacon Hospital has developed a well-documented system of clinical governance predicated on International best practice, clinical audit and a comprehensive risk management programme. BMG is always conscious of the necessity of providing value for money and cost efficiencies while maximizing positive patient outcomes.

Clinical Governance and Risk Management Our clinical governance covers the following aspects: 1. Clinical effectiveness – ensuring that the interventions and treatments are the best available. So far Beacon Medical Group’s continued innovation and early diffusion (rate of adoption) has been key to its continued success. Innovation will be encouraged through requirements specification and procurement practices, and the use of innovative procurement mechanisms.

2. Clinical Risk Management – reducing the probability of significant risks as well as the severity of unavoidable risk outcomes. Beacon Medical Group recognises Risk Management as the systematic process of identifying, evaluating and addressing potential and actual risk, through a well-designed programme that prevents, controls and minimises risk exposure. It is Beacon Medical Group’s philosophy that prevention is better than treatment with respect to risk management.