
Project ECHO AIIHPC
The Project ECHO AIIHPC is designed to support primary care staff to improve their knowledge and skills in the care and management of patients with a wide range of palliative healthcare needs.
Project ECHO is a revolutionary guided-practice model that reduces health disparities in under-served and remote areas of the state, nation, and world. Through innovative telementoring, the ECHO model uses a hub-and-spoke knowledge-sharing approach where expert teams lead virtual clinics, amplifying the capacity for providers to deliver best-in-practice care to the underserved in their own communities. Learn more about the global ECHO movement at https://hsc.unm.edu/echo/
The network fosters a spirit of learning from each other in a safe environment. All four phases of Project ECHO AIIHPC were funded by the Health Services Executive.
Are you part of ECHO ? | 1 minutes 31 seconds
Project ECHO AIIHPC: Nursing Homes (Phases 1 to 3)
Phase 1 was delivered to nursing homes (the spokes) within South Dublin and facilitated by the multidisciplinary palliative care team at Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Services (the hub). The evaluation report can be viewed here and a peer reviewed paper has also been published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine (view here)
Phase 2, which commenced in February 2018, extended invitations to the remaining homes within Dublin and was facilitated jointly by the multidisciplinary palliative care teams at St Francis Hospice and Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Services. A peer reviewed paper has been published in European Geriatric Medicine (view here)
Phase 3 commenced in May 2019 in collaboration with Milford Care Centre and nursing homes in the mid-west of Ireland. An evaluation of phase 3 was completed by researchers in the University of Limerick in Spring 2020. View the full evaluation report.
Project ECHO AIIHPC: OT & Physio (Phase 4)
Phase 4 was developed and delivered with the overall aim of improving access to palliative care for those in the community by offering easily accessible and up-to-date training on principles of palliative care and best practices to occupational therapists and physiotherapists who deliver primary care in communities throughout Ireland. The Hub consisted of occupational therapists, physiotherapists, a dietician and a nurse manager, and was led by Palliative Care National Clinical Therapy Leads and facilitated by an allied health professional with academic, research and clinical experience in palliative care delivery. The ECHO Spokes were occupational therapists and physiotherapists (n=26) who were working in primary care and attended remotely from their workplace. An evaluation was completed by researchers in Trinity College Dublin in Spring 2020. Read the full report here. A peer reviewed paper has also been published in the Journal of Health and Social Care in the Community (view here) and an overview was also published in Volume 8, Issue 4 p71-72 of the National Institute of Health Sciences Research Bulletin (view here)
Coming soon..... National Nursing Home Programme (Supporting Palliative, End of Life & Bereavement Care).

AIIHPC is delighted to be part of a new National Nursing Home Programme (Supporting Palliative, End of Life & Bereavement Care). This is an initiative of the Irish Hospice Foundation in partnership with AIIHPC and the HSE. AIIHPC will manage the delivery of nine Project ECHO AIIHPC: Nursing Home networks; webinars and a dedicated zone on the Palliative Hub Learning Platform to support nursing home staff working in the Republic of Ireland.
Miriam Ahern, our new Project Manager for Nursing Home Education, is leading the Institute’s components of the programme.
Project ECHO AIIHPC COVID-19 Response
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, AIIHPC worked with a range of key collaborators to develop a series of Project ECHO Webinars. These were one hour long and included a presentation by a subject expert for 15 to 20 minutes, followed by a facilitated questions and answers session with a panel of experts from a range of disciplines and organisations. Participants were encouraged to submit burning topic related questions during the registration process for each webinar as well during each session. Emailed and texted feedback to each of the webinars was overwhelmingly positive. Twenty five webinars were delivered in total with 11372 people attending one of more of the sessions. session were recorded and the videos were viewed 9688 times [data correct as of 31.7.20]
The Project ECHO AIIHPC: Webinars for nursing homes (13 Sessions) – the majority were delivered in collaboration between AIIHPC and the Age-related Health Care Department of Tallaght University Hospital, with the session on the 8 April in collaboration with Milford Care Centre. A total of 3557 people attended one or more the sessions with the videos being viewed 1851 times [data correct as of 31.7.20]
The Project ECHO AIIHPC: Webinars For Intellectual Disability Services (8 Sessions) – the majority were delivered in collaboration between AIIHPC and Trinity Centre for Ageing and Intellectual Disability, with the webinar on the 29 May was a collaboration between AIIHP and University College Cork, The Cope Foundation and the Office of Nursing and Midwifery Services Director (ONMSD) in the Health Service Executive (HSE). A total of 6264 people attended one or more the sessions with the videos being viewed 4923 times [data correct as of 31.7.20]
The Project ECHO AIIHPC: Webinars for Mental Health Services (2 Sessions) were delivered in collaboration between AIIHPC and the HSE’s Community Operation Mental Health Services. A total of 318 people attended one or more the sessions with the videos being viewed 249 times [data correct as of 31.7.20]
The Project ECHO AIIHPC: Webinar for Disability Services (1 Session) were delivered in collaboration between AIIHPC and the HSE’s National Quality Improvement Office, Disability Service. A total of 372 people attended the session with the video being viewed 285 times [data correct as of 31.7.20]
The Project ECHO AIIHPC: Webinar for Children with complex care needs (1 Sessions) – delivered in collaboration between AIIHPC and Laura Lynn Ireland’s Children Hospice. TA total of 693 people attended the sessions times with the video being viewed 604 times [data correct as of 31.7.20]
View an infographic summarising the The Project ECHO AIIHPC: Webinar series
Project ECHO AIIHPC Workshop, Tuesday 11 August from 2 - 3.30pm
Welcome and brief overview
Karen Charnley, Director All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care
Welcome and brief overview | 2 minutes 29 seconds
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Key findings from evaluation of the four Project ECHO AIIHPC phases
Dr Dan Ryan, Consultant Physician Geriatric and Stroke Medicine at Tallaght University Hospital, Dublin
Dr Dan Ryan | 11 minutes 54 seconds
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Prof Alice Coffey, Professor of Clinical Nursing, University of Limerick
Prof Alice Coffey | 13 minutes 53 seconds
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Ruth Usher, Lecturer, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University College Cork
Ruth Usher | 16 minutes 41 seconds
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Project ECHO NI: Supporting integrated care within Northern Ireland
Áine McMullan, Project Manager for ECHO Northern Ireland
Áine McMullan | 12 minutes 56 seconds
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Project ECHO: Key findings from the global movement
Prof Max Watson, Project ECHO Programme Director, Hospice UK
Prof Max Watson | 12 minutes 39 seconds
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Project ECHO AIIHPC response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Dr Cathy Payne, Programme Manager AIIHPC
Dr Cathy Payne | 4 minutes 44 seconds
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