Much of the discourse surrounding the health service in Ireland is on its actual or perceived deficits or shortcomings. Good People, instead, is focused on action by providing solutions to some of these problems.
The organisation has evolved to become a leading employer in the healthcare sector in Ireland under the leadership of its managing director, Gerard Chimbganda. And its contribution to healthcare in Ireland has already been recognised – Chimbganda has been chosen as a “trailblazer” by the All-Ireland Business Foundation for services to entrepreneurship, while the Good People Medical Centre in Drogheda was chosen as the Business All-Star Medical Centre of the Year by the All-Ireland Business Foundation.
Chimbganda will once again appear at the Future Health Summit, this time to outline how Good People has managed to be a disrupter in the provision of healthcare, having made the transition from operating solely as a recruitment agency to providing diversified health services in home care and primary care. He explains that the aim of Good People is to provide a more diverse group of candidates, matching their skills and experience with the unmet needs on the ground.
While Good People offers home care and fostering services, the goal of opening their own medical practice was to provide people with a suite of primary care services as part of a one-stop shop. Their recruitment know-how meant they could staff the centre with highly skilled and trained medical personnel.
“Our centre offers easy access for a patient to a wide range of medical services, including preventive healthcare, general medical care, diagnostic services, specialised treatments, and remote virtual consultations,” he says. While the organisation originally specialised only in overseas recruitment, with the medical centre, the goal is to find the best staff, regardless of where they come from, Chimbganda notes. “There are currently nine different nationalities working at the centre,” he says. “We have hired local people but where there are shortages our recruitment side helps us to source the right people internationally.”
By offering such a diverse range of services, Chimbganda says the medical centre is directly aligned with the principles of Sláintecare, which is to provide healthcare services in the community, rather than always relying on the hospital system. With its mix of private and GMS patients, they have also had a tangible impact on timely access to healthcare in the region, he adds. “There have been over 3,000 new homes in this area alone in recent years and this has meant problems with access to healthcare services.”
Their expertise in recruitment is invaluable – Chimbganda says he believes that the “biggest problem in healthcare at the moment” is staffing, with the recruitment and retention of skilled and experienced staff increasingly difficult. Good People has also come up with novel ways to address these deficits; for example, in the homecare sector, there is a shortage of carers, so they now offer a training programme for interested candidates and where possible in the home country. “We are complementing as well as identifying key gaps.”
Providing a quality service is their biggest motivator, however, and Chimbganda explains that Good People Medical Centre is in the process of becoming ISO certified to be at par with its Staffing Solutions Service, which is “a big achievement”, he says. The success of the centre means they are hoping to replicate the model in other large urban centres and cities across Ireland, including Cork, Galway and Limerick. “It’s about getting the right people for the right role and then putting the standards in place to maintain quality,” Chimbganda states. “We look at the best practice in each area, set that standard for ourselves and then monitor performance, working to KPIs. We are small enough to be agile but big enough to make it across this country and play our role in alleviating waiting lists.”
