National EFMI Member Society: Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland
Short overview: From 1976 to 1996, Healthcare Informatics interests in the Republic of Ireland were represented by the Health Care Specialist Group of the Irish Computer Society. This group represented Ireland at the European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI) and the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA). It hosted the European Medical Informatics conference, MIE 82, and was associated with the IMIA Working Group 8 international symposium on Nursing Informatics held in Dublin in 1988.

In May 1996 the members of the Health Care Specialist Group formed a new society, the Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland (Cumann Ríomheolais Sláinte), in order to broaden the base of membership and increase the range of services offered. By formal agreement with the Irish Computer Society, the Health Care Specialist Group was disbanded, and its functions, assetts and liabilities transferred to the new Society, which then became affiliated to the Irish Computer Society.

The Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland was inaugurated formally at its First Annual Conference in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, on Thursday 10th October 1996. The new society incorporates the Healthcare Informatics section of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland. Thus the Healthcare Informatics Society is in a position to build bridges between computer professionals interested in health care, and health care professionals interested in computing, while supporting and embracing the new professionals of health care informatics. There are currently some 270 members, drawn from information technology, medicine, nursing, other professions allied to medicine, education, government and industry.

The officers of the Society are:

• President: Prof. Jane Grimson, Trinity College, Dublin.
• Chair: Mr. Gerard Hurl, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin.
• Secretary: Ms. Ann Sheridan, University College, Dublin.
• Treasurer: Mr. Diarmuid UaConaill, Portmarnock, Co. Dublin.

The objectives, as set out in the Constitution, are:

• To develop and disseminate knowledge of the use of informatics in health care.
• To promote research and education in health care informatics.
• To participate internationally with bodies of similar interests.

In pursuit of the third objective, the Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland has been accepted as a member of the European Federation for Medical Informatics, and the International Medical Informatics Association.

For further information, see our website at: http://www.hisi.ie