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Performance Management (PM) processes have become a potent part of strategic and service quality decisions in healthcare organisations. In 2005, the management of public healthcare in Ireland was amalgamated into a single integrated management body, named the Health Service Executive (HSE). Since then, the HSE has come up with a range of strategies for healthcare developments and reforms, and has developed a PM system as part of its strategic planning. The purpose of this paper is to review the application of PM in the Irish Healthcare system, with a particular focus on Irish Hospitals and Emergency Services.

An extensive review of relevant HSE’s publications from 2005 to 2013 is conducted. Studies of the relevant literature related to the application of PM and of international best practices in healthcare performance systems are also presented.

PM and performance measurement systems used by the HSE include many performance reports designed to monitor performance trends and strategic goals. Issues in the current PM system include inconsistency of measures and performance reporting, unclear strategy alignment, and deficiencies in reporting (e.g. feedback and corrective actions). Furthermore, PM processes have not been linked adequately into Irish public hospitals’ management systems.

The HSE delivers several services such as mental health, social inclusion, etc. This study focuses on the HSE’s PM framework, with a particular interest in acute hospitals and emergency services.

This is the first comprehensive review of Irish healthcare PM since the introduction of the HSE. A critical analysis of the HSE reports identifies the shortcomings in its current PM system.

Facilities management (FM) plays a vital role toward creating the hospitable environment that supports the core clinical business of rendering quality health care. To ensure optimal performance of FM, public hospitals require a performance measurement (PM) framework that could guide and assist facilities managers in their operations. This paper aims to respond to this need by developing a performance measurement framework useful to improve FM performance within the context of developing countries hospital FM services delivery.

The paper synthesizes knowledge from a comprehensive review of FM performance measurement literature and the results of an earlier PhD research on FM performance measurement in Ghana’s public hospitals.

The paper presents a simplified performance measurement framework which demonstrates four key performance measurement tasks: establishing performance goals; measuring the FM service delivery; evaluating FM outcomes; and performance review and reporting. The study suggests the establishment of a central coordination point to enhance performance measurement activities of public hospitals’ FM practices.

Although reference is made to research on key performance indicators (KPIs), future study is recommended to develop appropriate methodology for selecting relevant KPIs. The author also intends to pilot the framework to a health facility in Ghana to leverage its usefulness, given the fact that it has not been tested empirically.

The application of the framework is expected to lead to the identification of performance gaps and weakness which when acted upon could lead to operational effectiveness and efficiency of the FM process, ultimately leading to improved FM performance.

The paper develops a novel performance measurement framework useful within the context of the nascent FM industry in the developing world.