Dr Frank Dolphin discusses the future of medicine in Ireland in Science of Business podcast

In the latest Science of Business podcast which has been released today (April 29th) on all podcast platforms interviewee, Dr Frank Dolphin shares his insights on the future of healthcare in Ireland and possible business opportunities as a result of Covid19.

Dr Frank Dolphin Science of Business podcast interview

The Science of Business podcast series is hosted by the multi-award-winning serial entrepreneur and founder of Q1 Scientific Louise Grubb. The series features interviews with some of the key people behind Ireland’s global success in pharma, life sciences, health and biomedical sectors. Louise brings her twenty years of experience within the sector to the table and her own knowledge of what is required to establish a pharma success story.

Throughout the latest interview, Frank shares his incredible career journey from the starting point at Temple Street Children’s Hospital, to his former role as Chair of the HSE to establishing his global businesses Rigney Dolphin and of international healthcare company Relate Care.

Frank discusses the model of telemedicine, which is operated within the global healthcare company Relate Care,

“I believe in Ireland we are going to see a lot more of this, I think the current situation has made us realise that we can do a certain amount through tele-contact, there are a lot of models that look at how we can do that better with older people living at home.”

“We are a small enough island yet we expect complex services on our doorstep, whereas that is not the way that it is in other countries. Specialist services need specialist centres, they can’t be everywhere and we need to understand that and if you have specialist centres with the population gravitating to them then efficiencies boom, but when you touch on hospitals, they become emotive, they become local, they become political, and people see their own need, but I hope what may come out of the current situation is that there will be a re-understanding of what a hospital is versus what a care centre is, what a nursing home is, and what the GP service Health Centre is. And the more we focus on improving the GP health centre with more practice nurses, more physiotherapists, health nutrition, speech and language and social work into those centres, the hospital is really a specialist centre, it is not a nursing home, it is a specialist centre that you go in and come out of.”

“We are going to face generational change, we are going to face political mindset that we are going to move on from the old way of ‘the region, ‘the county’, to the specialist centre.”

In relation to the current Irish healthcare system, Frank says,

“I think what we are seeing at the moment is that the people who are working in the system are allowed to run it, but you have to remember that health in Ireland especially has a lot of vested interests. And if we are going to change, we have to look at who has their finger in the pie in health and why are they there, what is their purpose for being there and what is their value? And that is going to be a tough argument. This is a national debate, and I don’t know that Ireland is ready for it.”

In the interview, Frank also speaks of working remotely and how as a result of Covid19 businesses will place more scrutiny on productivity levels than ever before and a recalibrating of how employees are managed into the future and how different roles are valued.

“I think there will be a lot of people looking at business opportunities as a result of Covid19, but I think you might be looking in the wrong place, it is more consequence is what you need to look at; ‘what consequentially is going to happen after this? So it is what trend is going to emerge or is even starting to emerge as you look at countries that are coming out of it. You suddenly see a spin in something like confectionery, and thinking outside the box here; we are seeing suddenly a whole lot of creativity in baking; eating becomes very important so if eating becomes very important then you spin-off from that for an opportunity.”

Listen to the full interview

The full interview from this latest episode of ‘The Science of Business’ with Dr. Frank Dolphin is now available to listen to on all podcast platforms.

You can listen to previous interviews on the podcast section of this website.

If you would like to be considered as a guest for future interviews, please contact us to find out more.