Trust medical boss will remember Massachusets after year in US

Dr Anne Kilgallen is off to the United States for a year - the only person this year and only the second person ever from Northern Ireland to receive a fellowship from the Health Foundation in the United Kingdom.

The Trust Medical Director has won a Quality Improvement Fellowship (QIF) awarded by the body, which offers five fellowships a year, allowing fellows to work at the IHI in Cambridge in the United States.

Each candidate - and his or her chief executive - has to personally commit that the organisation will make use of what the candidate learns on the programme.

Elaine Way, Chief Executive of the Western Trust, paid tribute to Dr Kilgallen saying: “I am absolutely delighted for Anne as she is honoured with this fellowship.

“This is a great opportunity for her and recognition of her contribution to the Western Trust with her leadership and determination to place quality and safety at the centre of all we do.

“I have very much enjoyed working with Anne and though she will only be away from us for a year she will be a great loss to the Trust. However, what she will bring back will be invaluable to every patient and user of our health and social care services.”

Dr Kilgallen added: “I will spend a year in Boston, working at IHI and will also attend the Harvard School of Public Health summer school.

“I am very grateful for this opportunity and I appreciate Elaine Way’s personal commitment that the Western Trust would support me during the fellowship and make use of what I bring back.”

Dr Kilgallen was awarded the year-long fellowship by the Health Foundation, a UK charity working to improve health care through giving leading health professionals the opportunity to study at Harvard University and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in America.