Appointments to the Physiotherapists Registration Board and Reappointment to the Speech & Language Therapists Registration Board - 20 September 2022

The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has appointed the following members to the Physiotherapists Registration Board, on their election by the registrants of the designated profession, with effect from 31 August 2022 to 4 August 2026.

Dr Sheelagh MacNeill

Dr Sheelagh McNeill has enjoyed being actively involved with the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP) for many years at local, national and international level. She graduated from the Dublin School of Physiotherapy and Trinity College. She started her working career in Guy’s Hospital, London. Two years later she returned to Dublin where she worked in the Adelaide Hospital. She currently works in private practice in Sligo where she lives.

Sheelagh has always been interested in continuing professional development (CPD) and be-tween 1974 -2008 she undertook several third level courses culminating in a D.Phil. from the University of Ulster.

While Sheelagh was on the Council of the ISCP, prior to 2010, she worked on the Overseas Accreditation Standing Committee (OASC) which later became the International Qualifications Working Group (IQWG). She found the work fascinating as this group assessed the qualifications of overseas applicants wishing to become members of the Society.

From 2009-2012 she was President Elect and then President of the ISCP. In these roles she worked on the Statutory Registration Committee for the protection of both titles. In her role as President, Sheelagh was chairperson of the Professional Procedures and Ethics Committee and gained much experience in this role. At that time the Society dealt with complaints about physiotherapists.

Sheelagh has experience in Governance, Professional Procedures and Ethics, International Qualifications and CPD and would like to bring this experience to CORU for the protection of both the public and the profession.

Joanne Dowds

Joanne graduated from Trinity College with a BSc in Physiotherapy in 1999 before working as a rotational staff grade in Naas Hospital, St James Hospital and Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia. Upon her return from travelling, she worked as Senior Physiotherapist in Respiratory Care in St James’s Hospital, until she became a Clinical Specialist in Respiratory Care in 2006. Her areas of clinical interest are critical care and surgical recovery, she has also been involved in developing innovative services in the areas of post-COVID care and Inclusion Health.

Joanne has held temporary posts as Deputy Physiotherapy Manager and as Quality Improvement Facilitator in St James’s. She has lectured extensively at undergraduate and post-graduate level, including some time as clinical support to a Master’s programme in Respiratory Physiotherapy based in Trinity College, Dublin. Joanne has been an active member of many professional committees including the Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care (CPRC), Professional Development Committee of the ISCP, the Planning Committee of the ISCP and Health Informatics Society of Ireland (HISI) annual conferences. She is currently a member of the National HSCP eHealth Advisory group.

Joanne has completed a MSc in Exercise Physiology, Dip. in Coaching, Dip. in Creativity, Innovation and Leadership and is currently completing the Leading Care II programme. In 2018, she was chosen as a ‘HOPE’ participant, a European healthcare exchange programme where she had the opportunity to experience the Danish healthcare system. She has over 20 publications and multiple conference presentations.

Roisin O’Hanlon

Róisín O Hanlon qualified as a physiotherapist from Trinity College, Dublin in 1989 after which she worked in London and Australia for four years. On returning to Ireland, she worked in both public (acute and community care) and private practice, before starting in Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe in 1996. Róisín has been the Lead Physiotherapist since then, managing a growing team that provides physiotherapy to a wide range of clinical areas in a Model 3 hospital.

Róisín has been involved in the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP) at both branch employment and national level, including having served as Vice President for a year. Separately, she has been involved in discussions with the NRS on recruitment panels. Currently, she is one of the HSCP representatives on Saolta’s project to introduce a new management structure across the hospital group. At all times she was conscious of representing a moderately sized hospital when applying local and national strategies to the workplace.

She has particular interests in the areas of consent and the duty of care that clinical staff have towards their patients. Recently, she has become concerned that there is a need to en-sure an adequate availability of qualified staff members to fit the posts that are being created while supporting these staff in maintaining competence and gaining easy access to further educational opportunities.

Róisín has an MA in Healthcare Management through the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) and is completing a BL from the Honourable Society of the King’s Inns.

The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has re-appointed the fol-lowing person as a member of the Speech and Language Therapists Registration Board, on election by the registrants of the designated profession, with effect from 31 August 2022 to 4 August 2026.

Emma Gonoud

Emma Gonoud is the Speech and Language Therapist Manager for the Health Service Executive (HSE) in the Laois/Offaly region. She has been a practising speech and language therapist since 1995. She has a BSc in Clinical Speech and Language Studies from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and an MSc Health Services Management.

Emma is the Speech and Language Therapist representative on the HSE national technical group for national reporting of metrics and statistics and from 2016 to 2017 she was a speech and language therapist representative on the HSE National Review of Speech and Language Therapy Services. She has been an active member of the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (IASLT) throughout her career and served on the IASLT Council from 2000-2008.