Shaping the Future of Telehealth: Insights from the Centre of Excellence Consultation Day

On 7th May, colleagues from across the health service came together for the Telehealth Centre of Excellence Consultation Day a key moment in shaping how we deliver virtual care across Ireland.

Hosted as part of the Digital for Care programme, the day was designed to gather insight, share experience, and begin the collaborative process of defining what a Telehealth Centre of Excellence (CoE) should look like in practice.

Drawing on learnings from across the country including early successes from seedling projects the event brought together clinical leaders, operational teams, policy voices, technologists, and patients to co-design a model that works for services, staff and the people we care for.

As Loretto Grogan, National Chief Nursing and Midwifery Information Officer, opened the day:

“We’re now in a much stronger place. The goal is to build a Centre of Excellence that’s patient-centred, clinically led, service-focused, and technology-enabled.”

With that vision in mind, the day explored national and international best practice, progress made to date, and what’s needed next to scale virtual care safely, equitably, and sustainably.

Fran Thompson, Chief  Information Officer at the HSE, followed with a systems-level perspective on where telehealth fits within Ireland’s wider digital health transformation.

He emphasised that virtual care cannot exist in isolation:

“You can’t just have telehealth sitting there as an island it must connect across the system, link with data, with services, and with strategy.”

Telehealth, Fran explained, is not about simply delivering more care faster it’s about delivering the right care, in the right place, at the right time, in a way that truly meets people’s needs.

Drawing on the principles of Sláintecare and the Digital for Care framework, he underscored that innovation must be aligned with organisational direction, properly resourced and embedded across existing care pathways.

He also shared the importance of enabling teams through the right tools and information highlighting business intelligence, workforce supports, and interoperability as critical enablers of success.

“Innovation isn’t the end goal embedding it is. We need to move from pilots to practice and ensure these models scale across the system.”

As the HSE progresses through its digital implementation programme, the Telehealth Centre of Excellence is envisioned as a vital structure to help guide, connect and scale proven models of care just as other successful Centres of Excellence have done for SAP and RPA across the system.

Kevin Kelly, General Manager, AI and Automation CoE, Chief Data and Analytics Office, brought valuable insight from his experience leading the HSE’s Centres of Excellence for Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Power Platform, and now Artificial Intelligence (AI). His message was clear: build for scale, but never at the expense of enablement.

Reflecting on a journey that began in 2018, Kevin shared the early challenges of developing a national RPA framework, the lessons learned through COVID, and how these foundations now shape how the HSE is preparing to embed AI across healthcare services.

“We didn’t want to become a bottleneck. Our role has always been to enable the system supporting hospitals and services to build their own capability and plug into a shared standard.”

Kevin outlined a federated model for Centres of Excellence supporting both local autonomy and national consistency. This approach ensured that individual services could adopt solutions at their own pace while benefiting from shared governance, licensing, training, and technology infrastructure.

He also highlighted the growing role of AI in service delivery, noting that most future technology projects will have AI embedded in some form. The real task now, he stressed, is supporting the system to adopt AI safely, ethically, and transparently with training, standards, and compliance built in.

“There may not be AI projects in the future just projects that include AI. That’s why we must build a structure that supports safe and responsible use from the start.”

Kevin’s experience reinforces the need for a Telehealth Centre of Excellence that enables teams, safeguards patients, and provides a clear, supported pathway to scale innovation consistently across the system.

Eleanor Campbell, Clinical Digital Innovation Coordinator for Dublin North East, provided a grounded and practical look at what it takes to make telehealth a success on the ground. Her message was clear: relationships, readiness and real-time support are the foundation for progress.

Eleanor reflected on four seedling projects running in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda in stroke, oncology, hypertension in maternity, and respiratory care each aligned with the upstream goals of Sláintecare and supported by digital health innovation.

“The reason these projects worked is because the teams were already engaged. That readiness made all the difference when the opportunity came.”

She highlighted how a strong local governance structure and meaningful relationships with the national team played a critical role in enabling these projects to progress quickly and effectively.

A key learning she shared was the importance of co-owning the work:

“I don’t just tell teams what to do, I take tasks too. That creates space for clinicians to focus and not feel overwhelmed.”

From navigating vendor relationships and procurement delays to preparing teams to think in both clinical and data-driven terms, Eleanor spoke candidly about the realities of delivering virtual care in busy healthcare settings. She also highlighted the value of national support in streamlining key barriers such as vendor onboarding, technology deployment, and equipment procurement.

Eleanor concluded with a call to action on sharing learning and celebrating success encouraging her peers to speak up, showcase outcomes, and recognise the transformative impact these models are having for patients.

“Marking our successes isn’t easy for clinicians but it’s vital if we want to scale and sustain what’s working.”

Claire McRory, Operational Lead for Chronic Disease Management in Donegal, brought the day’s discussions firmly back to the patient experience highlighting how a digitally-enabled, community-based approach to COPD care has transformed outcomes in one of the most rural parts of the country.

Claire outlined the origins of the CARE Project, a design-thinking-led initiative which used patient journey mapping, service blueprinting, and collaborative workshops to develop a virtual care model for people living with advanced COPD. The result was a scalable, digitally supported care pathway that empowers patients, reduces hospital use, and strengthens links between hospital and community teams.

“Our challenge was clear how might we empower people with advanced COPD to manage their own health and ensure they receive the right care, at the right time, as close to home as possible?”

The outcomes speak for themselves:

• 227 patients enrolled in the CARE pathway
• 50% reduction in readmissions, the lowest rate in the country
• 18.4% reduction in overall hospital admissions
• A demonstrable improvement in patient understanding, confidence, and clinical outcomes

Claire credited much of the programme’s success to the daily collaboration between acute and community care teams, strong national support, and the use of real-time data and dashboards to drive decision-making. She also noted the importance of independent evaluation and national data (Hipe) to secure trust and demonstrate impact.

While acknowledging challenges in data availability, staff recruitment, and long-term funding, Claire offered a positive, solution-focused outlook grounded in empathy, co-design, and frontline insight.

“Innovation is a team sport. For me, design thinking is the way forward for digital health in Ireland because it allows us to identify local problems and work together toward practical solutions.”

As the final speaker of the day, Helen Corrigan, Nursing Project Officer in the Chief Nursing Office, Department of Health, closed the event with a national policy perspective acknowledging the need to align innovation with systemwide structures, strategy, and equity.

Helen emphasised the importance of whole-system leadership and reflected on how events like the Consultation Day offer an opportunity for policymakers, clinical teams, technologists, and service users to collaborate meaningfully.

“Virtual care isn’t just about technology it’s about reimagining how we deliver care in ways that are safe, efficient, equitable, and person-centred.”

She noted that many of the projects showcased during the day reflect key national priorities, such as supporting advanced nursing practice, reducing hospital readmissions, and ensuring care is delivered closer to home.

Helen stressed the importance of not leaving anyone behind in the journey toward digital transformation, particularly vulnerable groups and those in marginalised communities. She also reinforced the role of the Digital for Care framework, which positions telehealth as an integrated component of a modern, equitable health system not as a standalone initiative.

“Innovation must be matched by strategy, and supported by policy. That’s how we ensure these solutions can scale, sustain, and deliver equity across the system.”

In closing, Helen reminded attendees of the role that national frameworks, clear governance, and shared infrastructure must play in translating local success into long-term system impact—and affirmed the Department’s support for this direction.

Workshop Overview: Defining What Good Looks Like

The second half of the Consultation Day centred on a fast-paced, high-energy workshop designed to capture the views of those closest to telehealth delivery. Facilitated by Julie Bellew, the session guided participants through four key focus areas to shape the future of the Telehealth Centre of Excellence (CoE):

• What does ‘good’ look like for a Telehealth CoE?
• What is most useful now—for you, your team, and your patients?
• What’s missing—what hasn’t been considered that should be?
• What structures and support will make telehealth successful across the system?

Participants shared priorities around governance, funding, workforce support, integration with services, and ensuring the patient voice remains central. Julie encouraged attendees not to focus solely on funding—but to elevate the full spectrum of enablers needed to make virtual care scalable and sustainable.

“Try not to just rush to funding think about what else matters just as much: clarity, connection, structure, support.”

The session moved quickly, with seven-minute intervals per section and prompts to flag top priorities. The format helped surface practical insights while also highlighting gaps or overlooked needs that could inform the development of a robust, user-informed Centre of Excellence model.

Julie concluded the session by acknowledging the importance of this shared intellectual input:

“You’ve given us a huge amount of insight today—this is your IP. And we’ll take it forward to build something that truly serves you, your teams, and your patients.”

Closing Reflections and Next Steps

The day closed with thanks and reflections from Julie Bellew, Programme Manager for the HSE Telehealth Team, and Professor Richard Greene, Chief Clinical Information Officer. Together, they acknowledged the powerful sense of collaboration that defined the day and the value of hearing directly from those delivering, supporting, and leading telehealth services across Ireland.

Julie emphasised that the purpose of the day was not simply to present a model but to co-design one, grounded in the lived experience of staff, services, and patients.

“Our goal today was to hear from those working on the ground what do you need from a Centre of Excellence? You’ve given us an incredible depth of insight. That was the deal and it worked.”

Professor Greene reflected on the strength of in-person collaboration and how vital it is to health system change:

“We are better when we connect in person. That’s where the real exchange happens not just ideas, but energy, disagreement, challenge, and trust.”

The event concluded with participants asked to mark what resonated most for them throughout the day a final moment of shared reflection, captured to inform the next phase of work.

Conclusion: Building Together

The Telehealth Centre of Excellence Consultation Day marked a meaningful step forward in shaping the future of virtual care in Ireland. It wasn’t a showcase it was a conversation. One rooted in honesty, experience, and a shared ambition to deliver better, fairer, more connected care.

From early adopters to national leaders, from clinicians to technologists, from policy to practice—what emerged was a collective vision:

• Patient-centred
• Clinically led
• Service-focused
• Technology-enabled

As the HSE moves forward with the development of the Telehealth Centre of Excellence, the insights shared at this event will help ensure it is not only fit for purpose but designed for the people who rely on it, lead it, and deliver it every day.

Click here to watch recordings of the speakers from the event.