Welcome to the SCOPe Directorate information guide. The SCOPe HSCP Directorate represents a subset of five Health and Social Care Professions (HSCP) in St James’s Hospital – Speech and Language Therapy, Clinical Nutrition, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy Services and Medical Social Work.
The SCOPe HSCP team comprises 320 full-time staff and represents 8% of the clinical workforce. Our team provides care on most clinical pathways and shares a lot in common.
Our Vision, Mission and Strategic Priorities
In 2023, we refreshed the direction of the SCOPe HSCP Directorate. We have identified five strategic priorities (pillars) which together with the needs of our partners guide our annual planning and objective-setting process at Directorate, team and individual level.
Full details of the SCOPe Strategic Roadmap 2023 – 2026 are available here:
SCOPe Strategic Roadmap 2023 – 2026
As a team, we take great pride in the care we deliver and are continuously striving to make improvements for the benefit of those we serve. If you have feedback about a SCOPe service you have attended, please contact scopehscp@stjames.ie If you are interested in joining the SCOPe Patient Representative Group, please contact Kathleen at kjgibbons@stjames.ie for more information.
See individual SCOPe departments linked below for referral information:
The SCOPe HSCP team is the largest therapy group in acute hospital care in Ireland. There are approximately 40 Clinical Specialist positions across the Directorate, providing the clinical leadership needed to continuously advance and improve the services we offer. We pride ourselves on the standard of care we deliver and work hard to be the best at getting better.
Working in the SCOPe team carries many exciting opportunities, some of which are outlined below.
Flexible Working Arrangements (FWAs) – We are committed to achieving better work-life balance as part of our focus on staff wellbeing and offer a suite of flexible working arrangements for suitable roles.
Reward – We pay careful attention to the factors that lead to satisfaction amongst our workforce and this informs the development of our services, for example, on workforce planning, skills developments etc. In addition, there are excellent promotional opportunities available to committed staff across the Directorate.
Professional development opportunities – Our work is made possible through the commitment of our staff and their continued knowledge and skills development. Comprehensive induction and training programmes are in place across the directorate. Individual training needs / aspirations are agreed with service managers through professional supervision and annual review processes. Relevant postgraduate training opportunities are also supported as required.
Inclusive culture – We foster cultures which support clinical redesign by frontline clinicians and pride ourselves on supporting committed staff in their endeavours to improve care. 12% of the research and improvement projects registered in St. James’s Hospital are led by the SCOPe team, earning us a reputation for excellence.
If you are interested in a career in the SCOPe HSCP Directorate, please contact the Manager of the relevant SCOPe Department (see linked pages) for details.
If you are interested in a career in one of the SCOPe HSCP disciplines, you will find some useful information on entry to each of the professions in ‘A Guide to the Health and Social Care Professions’ a-guide-to-the-health-and-social-care-professions.pdf (hse.ie).
For Transition Year students, we have introduced a Transition Year Information Session. This two-hour event is intended to be a one-stop shop for students interested in learning more about the therapy disciplines and meeting our SCOPe team. This event is held each Spring and is advertised in over 700 schools nationally and on Eventbrite.
We believe it is essential that the views and experiences of people who have used our services are at the heart of how we design, plan and deliver care. To this end, we have established a Patient Representative Group to work in partnership with us to help improve services for all. If you are interested in joining this group, please see documentation below for details.
SCOPe Directorate Patient Representative Group (PRG) Information Sheet