With over 20 years’ experience in the Irish public health sector and a Masters in Health Informatics, Deirdre has held numerous roles focused on the use of health information to improve patient outcomes, across the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, the Mental Health Commission and the Department of Health. She has significant experience working collaboratively on partnership projects including the National Care Experience Programme, the National Healthcare Quality Reporting System and the Health System Performance Assessment Framework for Ireland.
In her current role in HIQA (Health Information & Quality Authority), Deirdre is leading a programme of work focused on the development and implementation of health information standards to support the delivery of high quality, integrated, digitally-enabled care. Deirdre is also the lead for the National Engagement on Digital Health and Social Care, a partnership between HIQA, the HSE and the Department of Health, which captured the opinions and attitudes of the Irish public and professionals in relation to the benefits and challenges of digitalisation in health and social care services.
Deirdre is passionate about health sector partnership and user centred design. She is an enthusiastic advocate for how standardisation of heath information ultimately results in safer care, an enabled workforce and better outcomes for patients.