Longford's “The SitWell Pathway" stands out for award for innovative solutions

Longford’s Linda Keogh, Senior Occupational Therapist, Disability services Children's Disability Network Team, Longford, (HSE Dublin Midlands health region) was presented with an award for innovative solutions to healthcare challenges at the annual HSE Spark Summit in Dublin.

Linda Keogh was awarded the Best Patient Access award for her project, “The SitWell Pathway: Timely, Tailored Custom Seating for Children with Complex Needs”. 

The event celebrates the creativity and ingenuity of frontline healthcare professionals, bringing together international experts, policymakers, and local innovators to explore latest advancements in healthcare innovation.

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The HSE Spark Award winners show just some of the ways that using existing resources in different ways, can massively improve processes and reduce pressure on healthcare professionals.

Led by Linda Keogh, Senior Occupational Therapist with the Children’s Disability Network Team, Longford, the “Sit Well” project transformed custom seating services for children with physical disabilities in Longford’s Children’s Disability Network Team (CDNT) by developing a local custom seating service in Longford. 

Previously, families faced long, costly journeys, up to 240 km round trips, to centralised clinics in Dublin, causing wait times of 6 to 12 months and adding financial and emotional strain. This delay risked secondary complications and limited children’s participation.

Speaking from the summit, Linda said: “Our project, the SitWell Pathway in CDNT Longford, is a timely, tailored approach for custom seating for children with physical disabilities. The premise of the project was to decentralise the reliance on the National Seating Clinic in Dublin, which is a logistic and financial barrier for families, as well as having lengthy waiting lists.

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“I attended a HSE Spark project design workshop that offered valuable insights, which were instrumental in developing the SitWell Pathway. Their strong emphasis on the concept of ‘failing fast’ gave me the confidence to experiment, learn quickly from setbacks, and adapt. They also highlight the critical importance of scalability—recognising that a failure to scale can hinder the success of innovative ideas. The support and endorsement from HSE Spark were key in enabling our success.”