Dr Lourda Geoghegan, Consultant in Health Protection from Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland beats competition for GenerationQ leadership programme

Dr Lourda Geoghegan, Consultant in Health Protection from Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland beats competition for GenerationQ leadership programme

Dr Lourda Geoghegan, Consultant in Health Protection from Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland (PHA) is one of 18 health professionals in the UK to be selected for the prestigious GenerationQ, a pioneering leadership programme from the independent healthcare charity the Health Foundation.

The fellowship has a track record of developing leaders who understand how complex health systems work and who inspire others to transform healthcare quality and bring about sustainable, system-wide change.

The GenerationQ programme equips fellows with the skills to drive forward and influence improvements across healthcare services and organisations – skills that are needed more than ever in today’s NHS given the funding squeeze and emphasis on quality.

Dr Lourda Geoghegan, Consultant in Health Protection at the PHA said: “I am absolutely delighted to be commencing my GenerationQ programme with the Health Foundation. GenerationQ offers me the perfect mix of personal leadership development and training in improvement methodologies, along with the opportunity to learn from colleagues based elsewhere in the UK. I appreciate the continuing support from PHA as I undertake my programme over the coming 18 months. ”

Dr Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation said “We are delighted to have found 18 such talented people to participate in GenerationQ. Previous fellows have used the skills they have learnt through the programme to make real impact on the quality of healthcare in the UK. We are excited to see what these new fellows will do.”

Previous fellow Dr Ian Bullock, Chief Operating Officer, National Clinical Guideline Centre, Royal College of Physicians said “The experience of GenerationQ has been a rich stream of learning underpinning my leadership and quality improvement commitment, and how I have applied this ‘in action’ in my role at the Royal College of Physicians.”

GenerationQ provides an innovative learning experience, including residential leadership forums, the support of individual executive coaching, action learning in facilitated peer groups, the opportunity to engage with systems beyond health and extensive feedback.

The fellowship is an 18 month part-time programme to complete a postgraduate certificate or diploma. Fellows will develop personal skills and strategies for resilience, equipping them to confront the main challenges facing healthcare leaders today. They will put into practice a significant improvement project in their organisation. 

The Health Foundation’s GenerationQ programme will be open for the next round of application in spring 2014.

For further information about GenerationQ visit the Health Foundation website www.health.org.uk/generationq

Notes to the editor

To hear about past GenerationQ Fellows’ experiences of the programme, visit

http://www.health.org.uk/areas-of-work/programmes/generationq/fellows-2012/

http://www.health.org.uk/areas-of-work/programmes/generationq/listing/

http://www.health.org.uk/areas-of-work/programmes/generationq/fellowtab/

About the Health Foundation

The Health Foundation is an independent charity working to improve the quality of healthcare in the UK.

We are here to inspire and create the space for people to make lasting improvements to health services. We conduct research and evaluation, put ideas into practice through our improvement programmes, support and develop leaders and share evidence to drive wider change to the quality of healthcare in the UK.

We also have two priority areas where we actively influence healthcare policy and practice: patient safety and person-centred care. 

Visit www.twitter.com/HealthFdn to follow us on Twitter

About the GenerationQ Fellow

Lourda Geoghegan is currently a Health Protection Consultant at the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland. She leads a multidisciplinary team working on healthcare associated infections, infection prevention and control, and antimicrobial stewardship.

After receiving her medical degree from the National University of Ireland in 1994, Lourda went on to specialise in internal medicine and public health. She completed a masters degree in public health in 2000 and held a health services research fellowship from 2001-04. In 2008 Lourda completed higher specialist training in public health medicine and became a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health. She was awarded a doctorate in health services research by the National University of Ireland (Dublin) in 2009 and an Eisenhower Fellowship in 2010.

Lourda joined the Public Health Agency when it was established in early 2009, initially as a Specialist Registrar and then as a Consultant Epidemiologist at the former Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre. She took up her current role in the Public Health Agency later the same year.