Vivienne Byers

• BA (Mod), MSc, MA (Mgmnt), PhD
• Senior Research Fellow at Technological University Dublin

Background Social prescribing link workers support patients to connect with community resources to improve their health and well-being. These roles are prominent in policy, but there is limited evidence on what support is provided by link workers and what factors influence implementation of link worker interventions. Methods A convergent, mixed me...

Background Social prescribing link workers are non-health or social care professionals who connect people with psychosocial needs to non-clinical community supports. They are being implemented widely, but there is limited evidence for appropriate target populations or cost effectiveness. This study aimed to explore the feasibility, potential impact...

Air quality monitoring in Ireland is under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with the Gothenburg Protocol, EU/national legislation, and the National Clean Air Strategy. Secondary inorganic aerosols (SIAS) have been acknowledged as a key atmospheric pollutant, with serious public health impacts and no safe exposur...

Ammonia (NH3) is a naturally occurring, highly reactive and soluble alkaline trace gas, originating from both natural and anthropogenic sources. It is present throughout the biosphere, yet plays a complicated role in atmospheric acid–base reactions resulting in the formation of inorganic secondary inorganic aerosols (SIAs). While the general mechan...

Climate change, urbanisation, chemical pollution and disruption of ecosystems, including biodiversity loss, affect our health and wellbeing. Research is crucial to be able to respond to the current and future challenges that are often complex and interconnected by nature. The HERA Agenda, summarised in this commentary, identifies six thematic resea...

This chapter identifies the key factors involved in organisational communication and explains how changes in technology have affected communication within and between organisations and their employees.

Background : E-health or digital health technologies endeavour to connect key stakeholders and thereby lay the foundation for better integrated as well as potentially more patient-centered care. However, despite the promise of empowerment, efficiency and value, digital health has yet to become part of the daily lives of the people who care for pers...

The modern industry discourse on sustainability is the idea of ‘green growth’, which is described as the paradox of the continuation of increased economic growth, at the same time as increasing sustainability. Policy makers face the challenge of how to encourage and sustain appropriate levels of individual behavioural change to manage consumption i...

Background Increasing healthcare costs need to be contained in order to maintain equality of access to care for all EU citizens. A cross‐disciplinary consortium of experts was supported by the EU FP7 research programme, to produce a roadmap on cost containment, while maintaining or improving the quality of healthcare. The roadmap comprises two driv...

Background Multimorbidity, defined as two or more chronic conditions is increasing in prevalence and is associated with increased health care use, fragmented care and poorer health outcomes. Link workers are non-health or social care professionals who support people to connect with resources in their community to improve their well-being, a process...

This unique book has set out the extant literature on distributed leadership in healthcare. This chapter builds upon this work by reframing leadership as a distributed concept from a practice perspective, involving those with particular skills and abilities across multiple institutional levels, rather than a traditional hierarchical ‘concentrated’...

CO2 sequestered by peatlands is accounted for and offset against national emissions. Observational and modelling studies are used to estimate emission factors that dictate the rate of CO2 emissions or removals from peatlands accounted for within the Landuse and landuse change including forestry (LULUCF) sector and often use simple Tier 1 emission f...

Editorial on the Research Topic Patient Safety: Delivering Cost-Contained, High Quality, Person-Centered, and Safe Healthcare World Health Organization defines patient safety as the absence of preventable harm and the prevention of errors/adverse events in healthcare (1). Despite stakeholders' unanimous consideration that patient safety is a vital...

Ireland's intensive dairy and beef production sector accounts for the biggest part of the national agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Ireland and is legally obliged by EU regulations to lower these emissions, making it an important target. Biochar, applied to other materials such as soil or manure, reduces GHG emissions out of these mat...

Identify Pressures The challenges to sustainability and sustainable development have been amplified by the continued growth of the global economy. This research explored ways to gain a better and wider understanding of the values and motivations that influence sustainable consumption behaviour. A key challenge to green governance, sustainability an...

While street-level bureaucracy has developed into a scholarly theme of its own, relevant knowledge and insights from similar phenomena have gained traction in other literatures. This can be seen in disciplines such as organizational psychology and behaviour, business management and strategy, public management and the sociology of law, as well as th...

Purpose The aim of this paper was to explore the linkage between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and person-centered care (PCC). The scope of the review was, therefore, to identify whether – as a result of such linkage – CSR may be a potential vehicle for delivering PCC within health-care organizations. Design/methodology/approach Data wer...

This paper questions the quantity, nature and distribution of PCC and person-centric communication modules across medical, nursing and HSCP professional training courses in the Republic of Ireland

Person-centred care (PCC) seeks to appreciate individuality and promote self-determination by enabling people to identify and utilise their internal capacities and external resources. Irish policy has endorsed PCC for over a decade due to proven positive results across health outcomes, relationships and satisfaction levels. However, implementation...

Presenting first results on biochar production of six different feedstock at four different temperatures using slow pyrolysis (heating rate 7.5 C/min). Biochar yield was calculated and pH values obtained.

This study explores the effects of air pollution on terrestrial systems.

Background/Introduction Person-centred care (PCC) is seen as integral to the successful delivery of healthcare globally and has been shown to advance concordance between care-provider and patient, improve health outcomes and increase satisfaction. As such Irish policy has endorsed PCC for over a decade. Core to PCC is the therapeutic relationship,...

Peatlands have been recognised as having a significant role in the mediation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels with direct implications for global climate change. Longitudinal in situ measurement systems for CO2 concentrations in blanket peatland ecosystems are difficult to implement where the nature of terrestrial–aquatic connectivity and...

Hydrological practices and pollution effects.

In this study the profile and character of peat-based biochar relative to other feedstock sources will be explored, its potential to mediate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for manure management systems will be evaluated. Peat and other feedstocks (table 1) will be pyrolysed at temperatures of 450-750°C using residence times of 20 to 60min....

In this study the profile and character of peat-based biochar relative to other feedstock sources will be explored, its potential to mediate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for manure management systems will be evaluated. Peat and other feedstocks (table 1) will be pyrolysed at temperatures of 400-700°C using residence times of 20 to 60min....

The fluvial carbon cycling in Irish upland blanket peatlands is highly variable spatially. In blanket peatlands, macropores and peat pipes are well connected with the pools and hummocks and this connectivity leads to significant variations in outflows of carbon from these microforms. The primary source, transport pathway and concentration of dissol...

Structured Abstract Purpose – Assessing performance quality in healthcare organisations is moving from focusing solely on clinical care measurement to considering the patient experience as critical. Much patient experience research is quantitative and survey based. We report a qualitative study gathering in-depth data in an Emergency Department (ED...

Peatlands cover approximately 11,757 Km2 of Ireland and represent a major carbon store – of this nearly half 4,350 km2 is represented by upland blanket peatlands. Carbon losses from this land type will have consequences for the carbon store and its impacts on climate change in Ireland. Carbon fluxes occur throughout the peat profile however in nati...

In this study the profile and character of peat based biochar relative to other feedstock sources will be explored and its potential to mediate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for manure management systems will be evaluated. Peat and other feedstocks will be pyrolysed at temperatures of 400-700°C using residence times of 5, 20 and 60min. The...

Politicians and national policy makers seek to encourage individuals to engage in a wide range of pro-environmental practices to address both discrete environmental problems and major global challenges such as climate change. Theoretically, the field of behavioural management in environmental consumption which seeks to change holarchic open human s...

This paper reports on a separate significant development in Irish healthcare at hospital level in implementing a systematic, continuous hospital-wide survey programme of the patient experience in a major teaching hospital in Dublin (Tallaght Hospital), and outlines its development and its success. In Ireland there are many initiatives that are deve...

This paper reports on a separate significant development in Irish healthcare at hospital level in implementing a systematic, continuous hospital-wide survey programme of the patient experience in a major teaching hospital in Dublin (Tallaght Hospital), and outlines its development and its success. In Ireland there are many initiatives that are deve...

According to West (2002), creativity is distinct from innovation as it encompasses the processes leading to the generation of new ideas to create value for individuals, organisations and the health sector. The term innovation is used to describe the use of these new ideas, products or methods where they have not been used before (Eurostat Community...

This chapter outlines the challenges for leadership development and education throughout healthcare organisations and how this responsible yet compassionate leadership needs to be inculcated and encouraged in healthcare professionals and managers. It also considers the current debates regarding the potential to develop, train or teach ‘leadership’....

The Irish health-care system is a complicated mix of public and private providers, with inequitable and unclear routes for health service users to access and navigate the system. In 2011, the Irish Government committed to significant health reform to develop a universal single-tier health system. In line with other European nations this was to be u...

This chapter identifies the key factors involved in organisational communication and explains how changes in technology have affected communication within and between organisations and their employees.

Aim: The public sector is facing turbulent times and this challenges nurses, who are expected to serve both patient interests and the efficiency drives of their organisations. In the context of implementing person-centred health policy, this paper explores the evolving role of front-line nurses as leaders and champions of change. Background: Nur...

Irish healthcare reform for the last decade advocates a patient-centric health system. Despite this push, the concept of patient-centredness in health policy is often not understood, nor implemented. This paper reports on research exploring the perceptions and practices of healthcare professionals with regard to the extent of patient involvement in...

Ireland's medical technology sector has evolved into one of the leading centres for medical device and diagnostic products globally with exports of €7.9bn, and approximately 250 companies involved in developing, manufacturing and marketing a diverse range of products and services from disposable wound care products to precision metal implants (IMDA...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the status of policy design and policy implementation in the biofuel sector in Ireland. The focus of the work addresses the overarching operational context of the biofuel sector in Ireland and the role of different actors in shaping and resolving inconsistencies in policy outlook and practice. Desi...

The models in which healthcare is delivered to patients are changing. In Ireland, ‘Future Health: A Strategic Framework for Reform of the Health Service 2012-2015’ states that the system should empower and support citizens, patients and healthcare workers. In Northern Ireland the agenda for reform ‘Transforming Your Care (TYC) refocuses health & so...

This paper reports on a study of policy and planning reform in the Irish health care sector. It considers the ambiguity of national health care strategies crafted to underpin this planning in health care service delivery and espousing values such as ‘equity’ and the actual health policy implementation on the ground. The complexity of the health car...

The complexity of the health care milieu necessitates that health policy, legislative objectives, resource allocation models, and management structures be aligned to plan and deliver healthcare services strategically. This paper reports on a study of policy and planning reform in the Irish health care sector. It considers the ambiguity of national...

Ireland has a history of health policy which is not explicit in its aims and objectives. The new framework ‘Future Health: A Strategic Framework for Reform of the Health Service 2012-2015’ sets out the main healthcare reforms that will be introduced in the coming years as the key building blocks for Universal Health Insurance in 2016. The framework...

The complexity of the health care environment necessitates that health policy, legislative objectives, resource allocation models, and management structures be aligned to plan and deliver healthcare services strategically. Policy in the Irish health care system has been guided to date by a number of national strategies (Health Strategy of 2001, Pri...

Public service reform in modern economies has placed an emphasis on effective planning and management of service delivery to the citizen-client. This paper draws on the concept of the Street Level Public Organization (SLPO) to examine the problem of government’s top down implementation of planning reform in the delivery of public services. It does...

Although strategic planning in healthcare has been in evidence in many OECD countries since the 1970s, it did not emerge in Ireland until the advent of legislatively mandated service planning in the 1990s. This occurred in the context of significant managerial, organisational and environmental change. One of the central mechanisms of the Strategic...

Whereas, in many OECD countries strategic planning in health care has been in evidence since the 1970s, in Ireland the emergence of strategic management processes in health care planning didn’t occur until the 1990s. The Strategic Management Initiative (SMI), as outlined in Delivering Better Government (1996), gives Government commitment to ‘the re...