Designing an Implementation Plan for the new HSE Adult Palliative Care Policy

The Challenge

Following the launch of the new National Adult Palliative Care Policy in September 2024, the HSE faced the significant task of turning policy actions and recommendations into a coordinated, implementable national programme. This required a clear, actionable implementation plan. The challenge lay in bridging the gap between strategic (or policy) intent, and operational delivery within a changing health system.

What we did

CES partnered with the HSE Implementation Team to provide structured, strategic support to shape an implementation plan. We helped to translate policy recommendations into practical, measurable actions, in a number of ways:

• We guided the team through the process of moving from policy to plan - coordinating preparatory work and facilitating strategic workshops and discussions to create a project plan for each HSE-led policy activity.
• We facilitated stakeholder engagement with key delivery partners to co-design these project plans - leaning into the strong relationships between the HSE and community and voluntary services within the Palliative Care sector.
• We quality-assured individual project plans and ran delivery planning workshops to ensure coherence and accountability. We then brought together these project plans into one clear programme plan, helping to identify key deliverables for each policy activity in a phased programme of work.
• CES led stakeholder mapping and analysis activities to support the policy dissemination activities like roadshow style presentations, national webinars and senior leadership meetings. We created key communication documents, such as summary slide decks, briefing notes and timelines to support stakeholder engagement across multiple levels and sectors, from senior leadership to local services.

We are now supporting the implementation of the plan by facilitating the set-up of project management approaches such as risk registers, action logs, readiness assessments, and agile implementation structures. We also developed custom tools and frameworks, including logic models, style guides, to support the implementation plan.

The Impact

Together with our partners at the HSE we have created a robust two year Implementation Plan with clear timelines and deliverables in a streamlined programme of work.

This is an ambitious start to the implementation of this highly valued policy.  

Local services will be supported to prepare for implementation using practical dissemination products, to help them understand what this new policy means for them, and how they will be supported to improve services.  

Programme governance structures and processes will be embedded to support delivery and monitoring of this plan.

The National Adult Palliative Care Implementation Plan 2025 – 2026 was launched on 2^nd September 2025.

You can read the plan here.