Boost for health decision making across Ireland
Health systems and individuals across the island of Ireland will benefit from the appointment of a new leader for Cochrane Ireland – a venture which will actively promote the use of the best available research evidence to inform decision-making about health.
This new initiative to coordinate the activities of the Cochrane community in Ireland will build on the excellent work achieved already by Cochrane* locally. The initiative is being funded by the Health Research Board and HSC Research and Development Division, Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland and is supported by the UK Cochrane Centre.
To progress the initiative, Dr Dónal O’Mathúna** has just been appointed as Convenor of Cochrane Ireland and Associate Director of the UK Cochrane Centre.
Dr O’Mathúna said: “Cochrane is a highly regarded international organisation with a reputation for producing high-quality, credible information to help patients and professionals with both ordinary and difficult health care decisions.
“My aim is to ensure that Cochrane Ireland makes a practical contribution to the health and social care systems across the Island of Ireland.”
Graham Love, Chief Executive at the Health Research Board said: “Cochrane Ireland will help ensure we move from generating evidence to promoting the use of evidence to inform health decision-making and increase clinical effectiveness.
“Having a Convenor on the ground here, who is also strategically linked with the UK Cochrane Centre, will ensure we build momentum, create a strong network of people who contribute to, or use, Cochrane and proactively engage new and relevant users locally.”
Speaking about the appointment, Professor Bernie Hannigan, Director, HSC R&D and Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Health Social Services and Public Safety, Northern Ireland, said: “Reviewers will now be supported more actively and further expertise developed in all aspects of systematic reviewing across the island of Ireland in close collaboration with the UK Cochrane Centre.
“It will also provide a locally-accessible set of resources so that high-quality research evidence can be disseminated more effectively to commissioners of health and social care services, health and social care professionals, service users and the public.”
*The Cochrane Collaboration is a global independent network of health practitioners, researchers, patient advocates and others, responding to the challenge of making vast amounts of evidence generated through research available in meaningful ways to inform decisions about health.
**Senior Lecturer in Ethics, Decision-Making and Evidence, in the School of Nursing and Human Sciences at Dublin City University. Dónal is also an experienced Cochrane author and trainer. He will take up this new post as a part-time secondment for three years.