News

GP on the Quad Conference 2025

10 Jul 2025

We were delighted to welcome over 100 GPs, GP Practice Nurses and Health Service Executive colleagues to University College Cork recently for ‘GP on the Quad Conference 2025’ which took place in UCC's Aula Maxima on the 28th June.

This conference, hosted by the Department of General Practice UCC in partnership with the postgraduate Cork GP Specialist Training Programme and HSE South West, focused on ‘Advances in Chronic Disease Management and Integrated Care’.
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UCC Futures Research Conference 2025

15 Jan 2025

Great to see the work of the Dept. of General Practice on display at the UCC Medicine and Health Futures research conference in University College Cork.

Posters on prescribing cascades, direct healthcare communications and long COVID as presented by Paul Ryan, Aisling Jennings, Elizabeth O Donnell, Aisling Farrell and James O Flynn.
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Success at 2023 AGPI/ICGP joint conference

18 Oct 2023

The Department would like to congratulate the success of our post doctoral researcher, Dr Ann Doherty, at the AGPI/ICGP ASM.

Ann was awarded both the prestigious Prof James McCormick Award for Best Research Presentation and the best poster prize at the event for her work on prescribing practices in older community dwelling adults in March 2023.
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Dr Paul Ryan awarded prestigious HSE GP Academic Fellowship

22 Aug 2022

We are delighted to welcome Dr Paul Ryan to the Department of General Practice in UCC. Dr Ryan has recently been awarded a prestigious HSE GP Academic Fellowship to undertake his MD in the area of medicines management under the supervision of Professor Emma Wallace. Congratulations Dr Ryan!
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Dr Elaine Walsh achieves her PhD and awards for her work

16 Jul 2019

Dr. Elaine Walsh is a GP and lecturer in the Department of General Practice. She was recently awarded a PhD for her work surrounding the issue of medication error at the interface of primary and secondary care supervised by Dr Laura Sahm in the School of Pharmacy, Professor Patricia Kearney in the School of Public Health and Professor Colin Bradley in the Department of General Practice. She has developed a novel patient held medication record in collaboration with a commercial provider of GP software. Initial feasibility testing has demonstrated that this device has potential to reduce medication error.
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RCGP Republic of Ireland Faculty Meeting: Saturday March 30th 2019 at UCC

27 Mar 2019

The RCGP Republic of Ireland Faculty will be holding their Spring Meeting on Saturday 30 March 2019 University College Cork, Co. Cork. The guest speaker is Dr Tony Foley, GP, Lecturer in Department of General Practice, UCC and Lead of PREPARED Dementia project. In addition we welcome Dr Alison Tavare, GP and GP Clinical Lead consultant at the West of England AHSN, also was a member of the NICE Guidelines Development group for Sepsis.
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Success for Dr Elaine Walsh at AUDGPI Scientific Conference

04 Mar 2019

The Joint Annual Scientific Meeting of the AUDGPI / ICGP Annual Scientific Meeting took place on February 28th and March 1st 2019 in Dublin. Dr Elaine Walsh, GP and lecturer in the Department of General Practice at UCC was awarded both the James McCormick Prize of the best research presentation and the AUDGPI bursary for the best presentation overall.

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Cardiovascular Study Day - 9th February 2019

13 Feb 2019

The Department of General Practice and Diabetes in Primary Care (DiGP) were delighted to jointly host the first in a series of Saturday study days for GPs and healthcare professionals. This first masterclass on Cardiovascular Disease in Primary Care focused on heart failure, atrial fibrillation and hypertension and was attended by over 50 GPs, practice nurses and health care professionals. Speakers included Prof Colin Bradley, Professor Mark Ledwidge, Dr Joe Gallagher, Mairead Lehane, Dr Diarmuid Quinlan, Dr Mahesh Pauriah and Dr James Dollard.
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Poster award for Diabetes in General Practice

07 Nov 2018

The Diabetes in General Practice poster, looking at the impact of the CNS diabetes service won first place at the recent Irish Diabetes Nurse and Midwife Specialist Association AGM on Saturday 3rd November 2018.
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11th Diabetes Conference hosted in Cork

02 Oct 2018

The 11th Collaborative 2018 Diabetes Conference took place on Wednesday 26th September 2018, at Silversprings Clayton Hotel, Cork. This conference is organised annually by the Diabetes in General Practice (DiGP), Department of General Practice, UCC, with partners the HSE and the IPNA. This year’s conference title was ‘National Strategy: Local Implementation' and was chaired by Diarmuid Quinlan, GP with keynote speaker Professor Sean Dinneen, Endocrinologist in Galway.

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NOW BOOKING! 11th Collaborative 2018 Diabetes Conference - 26th September 2018

27 Jul 2018

Booking is now open for the 11th Collaborative DiGP/UCC/HSE/IPNA Diabetes in Primary Care Conference: “National Strategy; Local Implementation ” Wednesday 26^thSeptember 2018

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Congratulations to Dr Tony Foley on award of MD

01 Jul 2018

Dr Tony Foley was awarded an MD in the summer conferrings. His research topic was on the design, development and evaluation of dementia training for General Practitioners
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REGISTRATION OPEN for Dementia and Diabetes GP CPD modules

24 May 2018

The Department of General Practice is offering fully accredited blended learning postgraduate CPD modules on dementia and on diabetes in primary care, and registration for courses beginning in September 2018 is now open. These modules are accredited by UCC and are specifically designed for the needs of a busy primary care clinician. The courses run over a 12 week period with online discussion and learning facillitated by a range of expert tutors, and is accompanied by two practical study days (which are accredited for CPD by the ICGP).

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Hat trick of awards for Department of General Practice!

14 Mar 2018

Three awards were made to two representatives from the Department of General Practice at the recent AUDGPI (Association of University Departments of General Practice in Ireland) Annual Scientific Meeting on 8th March 2018. Dr Aisling Jennings received both the James McCormick award for best research project and the AUDGPI bursary for best presentation, and Dr Tony Foley was awarded the George Irwin Prize for best educational project.
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Publication exploring the development and evaluation of online dementia resources

06 Feb 2018

This study, conducted by Dr Aisling Jennings, PREPARED project (Department of General Practice, UCC) describes the development, implementation and evaluation of an online dementia resource for primary care based health professionals. The online resource contains educational material, clinical pathways and a dementia specific services and supports directory. The online resource was developed and refined by input from an expert reference group and a stakeholders group. The end-users were involved in the conception, design and evaluation of the resource. Barriers to successful implementation of this type of online resource were identified.

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RCPI Dementia Seminar (Dublin) - 25th April 2018. A Clinical Guide to Dementia: the latest advice on preventing, diagnosing, and managing dementia

01 Feb 2018

This conference is aimed at healthcare professionals working in a range of clinical settings, including acute hospitals, community settings and General Practice. You will learn about the most up-to-date guidelines for preventing, diagnosing and managing dementia and associated symptoms. Our experienced facilitators will explain the Irish care pathways and best practices as a patient transitions between settings.

Speaking as a key note speaker is Dr Tony Foley. Dr Tony Foley is a Lecturer in the Department of General Practice at UCC and GP at Kinsale Medical Centre, Cork. He oversees the Primary Care Education, Pathways and Research in Dementia (PREPARED Project), which is a project that is part of the overall implementation of the Irish National Dementia Strategy. PREPARED is coordinated by the Department of General Practice at University College Cork, and is funded by the Health Service Executive and Atlantic Philanthropies. PREPARED is an award-winning initiative, scooping the Best Educational Project (GP/Pharmacy) at the 2017 Irish Healthcare Awards. Dr Foley's talk on 25 April is entitled PREPARED for change: supporting GP diagnosis and care for people living with dementia
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PREPARED dementia project wins national award

19 Nov 2017

The PREPARED (primary care research, education and pathways of dementia) project, led by Dr Tony Foley, were the winners of Best Educational Project (GP/Pharmacy) at the recent 2017 Irish Healthcare Awards. PREPARED is a national GP and primary care initiative which focuses on the development, delivery and evaluation of a dementia education programme for GPs and primary care clinicians.
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NEW! 2017 dementia training workshops for primary care

24 Oct 2017

The Primary Care Education, Pathways and Research of Dementia (PREPARED) project, hosted by the Department of General Practice at UCC, is pleased to announce that a series of dementia workshops designed for multidisciplinary teams working in primary care will be rolled out nationwide from October 2017. PREPARED, working with the HSE National Dementia Office, Anne Quinn (Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Dementia) and other HSE clinical colleagues, has developed a three-hour workshop 'Dementia Care in Primary Care - An Interprofessional Approach' and this is now being run in a number of locations in 2017, including Kerry, Kildare, Wexford, Mayo, Donegal, Westmeath, Tipperary and Wicklow.

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10th annual diabetes in primary care conference

21 Sep 2017

The 10th annual diabetes in primary care conference was held in Cork on 20th of September 2017. This conference has grown from strength to strength with an attendance of 98 at our first conference back in 2008, to an attendance of 200-250 booked for the last 7 years. The conference is a collaboration between DiGP, the HSE, UCC and the IPNA.

Our 2107 conference theme was ““The Heroism of Incremental Care”- as in primary care we are with the patient through their journey of living with diabetes. The aim of the conference is that all participants will acquire skills and knowledge that can be used in improving the care that they provide to patients with diabetes. One of the founding members of DiGP, Dr Finbarr Corkery, chaired the conference, reprising his role from the first conference held 10 years ago.
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Dementia project shortlisted for Irish Healthcare Award

13 Sep 2017

Congratulations to the PREPARED (Primary Care Education, Pathways and Research of Dementia) team, led by Dr Tony Foley in the Department of General Practice on being shortlisted for an award at the Irish Healthcare Awards. The awards ceremony will take place in November in Dublin. The PREPARED team have been shortlisted in the category of Best Educational Project (GP/Pharmacy).
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New study on medical student empathy predictors

11 Sep 2017

A study on medical student empathy predictors by UCC staff, including Dr Joseph Moran from the Dept of GP, has been published at BMJ Open.

The study examined medical school selection criteria as predictors of medical student empathy on a cross-sectional study of medical students, Ireland

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GP and PCT dementia workshops

18 Jul 2017

The PREPARED (primary care education, pathways and research of dementia) project team has recently published dementia workshop facilitator's guides and powerpoint resources for both General Practitioners and for members of Primary Care Teams (PCTs) to use in small groups to enhance their dementia care.

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Professor Colin Bradley a Fulbright Scholar Awardee

26 Jul 2017

Congratulations to Professor Colin Bradley, Department of General Practice at UCC who has been awarded a Fulbright HRB Health Impact Award to conduct research in the United States. Colin has a long standing research interest in improving the prescribing of medicines in general medical practice. Excessive prescribing of opioids for non-cancer pain has emerged as a major problem in the US. As Fulbright-HRB Health Impact Scholar, Professor Bradley will collaborate with colleagues from the University of Oklahoma to undertake research on strategies to improve opioid prescribing by primary care physicians.
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10th National Diabetes Conference will be held in Cork on 20 September 2017 - booking now open!

13 Jul 2017

The 10th annual diabetes in primary care conference will be held in Cork on 20th of September. This conference has grown from strength to strength with an attendance of 98 at our first conference back in 2008, to an attendance of 250 booked in at each conference over the last 6 years. The conference is a collaboration between DiGP, the HSE, UCC and the IPNA and booking is open to the multidisciplinary diabetes care team and is free to attend.

The conference this year will take place at the CLAYTON SILVERSPRINGS HOTEL in Cork.

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Irish Street Medicine Symposium - Call for Abstracts

03 Jul 2017

This year the Irish Street Medicine Symposium will be taking place in UCD on the 29th and 30th of September.
The 3rd Irish Street Medicine Symposium is an excellent opportunity to join a growing community of health care workers, social care workers, policy makers and researchers working together to improve health care outcomes for the most vulnerable in our society – homeless people, drug users, prisoners and vulnerable migrants.

Call for Abstracts - closing date for submissions Monday the 24th of July
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Traffic Medicine Clinical Update and Research Day

14 Mar 2017

Dr Kathleen McLoughlin, Research Fellow in the Department of General Practice, was among speakers at the Traffic Medicine Clinical Update and Research Day at the RCSI, Dublin on March 14th 2017. Dr McLoughlin is leading on an innovative research project assessing GP and patient experience of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and fitness to drive.
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2017 20th Annual AUDGPI Conference Successes

11 Mar 2017

The Department of General Practice was well-represented at the 2017 20th Annual Scientific Meeting of the AUDGPI (Association of University Departments of General Practice Ireland), which was held on 9th and 10th March 2017 in Limerick. The event, jointly hosted by the AUDGPI and ICGP, saw a range of presentations by academics, researchers and students from the Department of General Practice UCC, on topics including medical education, chronic conditions, dementia, patient and public involvement, and older people's care.
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Accredited Dementia Workshops for GPs

08 Mar 2017

The Department of General Practice, through the PREPARED project, offers GPs the opportunity to participate in practice-based, CPD accredited dementia workshops. Over 40 workshops have been run over the last year by a team of GP facilitators across the country. If your practice is interested in arranging workshops in your area, more information is available on the dementiapathways.ie website or by emailing the PREPARED team at dementiapathways.ie
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Award for Department Research Fellow, Dr Kathleen McLoughlin

08 Mar 2017

There was lots of interest in the Department of General Practice Fitness to Drive and Mild Cognitive Impairment Research Project at the Annual Scientific Meeting of INMED (Irish Network of Medical Educators) which ran from February 27th to March 1st 2017 in Dublin. The project is funded by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and was showcased by Dr Kathleen McLoughlin, Research Fellow. The project presentation won first prize in the itEACH symposium.
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Continuing Professional Development Courses for GPs

14 Feb 2017

The Department of General Practice offers a number of fully accredited blended learning postgraduate CPD modules covering diabetes in primary care, cardiovascular disease in primary care and is launching a new module on dementia in primary care for 2017. These modules are accredited by UCC and are specifically designed for the needs of a busy primary care clinician. The courses run over a 12 week period with online discussion and learning facillitated by a range of expert tutors, and is accompanied by two practical study days (which are accredited for CPD by the ICGP).

More information about the CPD courses and how to reserve a place on the courses can be found on the Department of General Practice website or by contacting Katie Murphy or Siobhan Boyle within the Department.
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Research Study: GPs and Fitness to Drive

13 Feb 2017

This research project, ‘Talking to patients with cognitive impairment about fitness to drive: Current approaches and possible improvement strategies for a general practice setting’, will investigate driving with cognitive impairment. Its main purpose is to look at how patients with cognitive impairment and GPs manage the discussion around safe driving.

For more information about this project, please contact Dr Carol Sinnott at csinnott@ucc.ie or Dr Kathleen McLoughlin at kathleenmcloughlin@ucc.ie
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Traffic Medicine Grant Awarded for Study on Fitness to Drive

01 Nov 2016

A €40, 000 grant was awarded by the Road Safety Authority (RSA), in association with the National Programme Office for Traffic Medicine (NPOTM) following a competitive process. Dr Carol Sinnott and Dr Colin Bradley, Department of General Practice at University College Cork, will lead a team of five researchers, representing UCC, the ICGP and the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland.The research project ‘Talking to patients with cognitive impairment about fitness to drive: Current approaches and possible improvement strategies for a general practice setting’ will investigate driving with cognitive impairment. Its main purpose is to look at how patients with cognitive impairment and GPs manage the discussion around safe driving.
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The 9th National Primary Care Diabetes Conference "Focus on Prevention and Early Intervention" will take place on 21st September 2016 in Cork.

13 Jul 2016

Booking is now open for the 9th National Collaborative Primary Care Diabetes Conference. The conference will be held at the Oriel House Hotel, Ballincollig, Cork on 21 September 2015. For more information about the conference programme, and to make a booking, please contact Katie Murphy, Diabetes Nurse Facilitator and/or visit the Diabetes in General Practice (DiGP) website and download the booking form.
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Over 200 attend the 9th National Collaborative Diabetes Conference in Cork

11 Oct 2016

The 9th Annual Collaborative Diabetes Conference took place in Cork on Wednesday 21st September 2016. The conference was jointly hosted by DiGP, Department of General Practice at UCC, HSE and IPNA. The theme of the 2016 conference was a ‘Focus on Prevention and Early Intervention’. Over 200 delegates attended to hear key note speaker Professor Donal O'Shea, Consultant Endocrinologist from Loughlinstown Hospital, and to hear from experts on a range of diabetes related topics.
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Dementia Education Programme begins national and local roll out

18 Aug 2016

The PREPARED (Primary Care Education, Pathways and Research into Dementia) project has developed and released a range of web based resources for GPs and primary care health care professionals. These resources, including clinical guidelines, care pathways, supports and services directories and educational and training initiatives can be accessed on dementiapathways.ie. The PREPARED team is also delighted to announce that, with a small team of expert GP faciliators with an interest in dementia working across the country (Dublin, Cork and Waterford), that their programme of dementia workshops for GPs is now up and running. The workshops are CPD accredited and can be run on site for GPs in their own practice. Initial feedback from attendees on the value of the workshops has been overwhelmingly positive. If you are a GP and are interested in knowing more about the project, or wish to schedule a workshop session for you and your practice, please contact the PREPARED team!
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Department of General Practice delighted to be involved in the Irish Street Medicine Symposium at UCC on 24th September 2016

21 Jul 2016

Come and join us on Saturday the 24th of September for the Irish Street Medicine Symposium 2016. It will be an informative and engaging day with colleagues and friends in the beautiful surroundings of University College Cork. The time of the conference is 9.00 – 17.00, with registration opening at 8.00. Anyone interested in the health challenges of the homeless population is encouraged to attend, including health care professionals, hostel and outreach staff and ancillary services. Our aim is to share information about our services, identify gaps and highlight care innovation and solutions. The Symposium is being organised by the Adult Homeless Integrated Service, HSE South in partnership with the Department of General Practice and GP Vocational Training Scheme, UCC and The Partnership for Health Equity. Further information is on the webpage www.healthequity.ie
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Dr Elaine Walsh secures an ICGP Career Support Research Grant

20 Jun 2016

The winners of the ICGP Career Support Research Grants were announced at the ICGP AGM in Galway, with UCC Department of General Practice lecturer and GP Dr Elaine Walsh securing one of the three grants awarded.
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GP Research Fellow amongst ICGP annual conference research award winners

15 May 2016

Research Award to UCC GP Research Fellow Dr Carol Sinnott for Medication Management in Multimorbidity paper

Congratulations go to Dr Carol Sinnott, GP Research Fellow in the Department of General Practice, UCC, for one of two awards for the best published paper of 2015 at the ICGP Annual Conference.
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Congratulations to Dr Carol Sinnott

02 Nov 2016

Dr. Carol Sinnott was conferred with her PhD from University College Cork 28th October 2016. Carol, a GP working in the Department of General Practice, completed her area of research in medicaton optimisation in multimorbidity.
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The 8th National Primary Care Diabetes Conference "Team Work will make the Dream Work" will take place on Wednesday 23rd September 2015 in Cork.

13 Jul 2015

Booking is now open for the 8th National Collaborative Primary Care Diabetes Conference: "Team Work will make the Dream Work". The conference will be held at the Oriel House Hotel, Ballincollig, Cork on Wednesday 23 September 2015. For more information about the conference, and to make a booking, please visit the Diabetes in General Practice (DiGP) website.
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Diabetes Conference: 'Team Work to Make the Dream Work'

07 Oct 2015

The 8th National Diabetes in Primary Care Conference held in Cork on 23rd September 2015, and organised by the UCC Department of General Practice with partners DiGP, the HSE and the National Practice Nurses Association, attracted over 270 delegates. Entitled 'Team Work to Make the Dream Work', the conference explored a range of topics relating to diabetes management in the community.
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PREPARED - Primary Care Education, Pathways and Research of Dementia

02 Mar 2015

Monday 2 March 2015: Minister of State Kathleen Lynch has today launched PREPARED, a new national Primary Care Dementia project which aims to upskill and support GPs and Primary Care Team Members in order for patients to receive optimal, evidence-based dementia care.
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7th Annual DiGP/UCC/HSE Collaborative Diabetes Conference

05 Nov 2014

The Diabetes In General Practice Group (DiGP), the Department of General Practice UCC and the HSE recently hosted another very successful diabetes conference, which was held on 15^th October 2014 at Oriel House Hotel, Ballincollig, Cork. This was the seventh annual diabetes conference, and with 240 delegates attending from all disciplines across primary care, is one of the biggest Diabetes events in Ireland!

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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and the link to chronic diseases in later life

05 May 2015

HRB-funded researchers at University College Cork have found people with multimorbidity (that is two or more chronic diseases at the same time) were more likely to report having adverse experiences in childhood than people without multimorbidity.
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PREPARED Video

03 Mar 2015

A video for the new National Primary Care Dementia project, PREPARED (Primary Care Education, Pathways and Research of Dementia) has recently been launched online.
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HRB Clinical Trials Matter Competition - third place for UCC's GP Research Fellow, Dr Carol Sinnott

01 Jun 2015

To mark International Clinical Trials Day on May 20th 2015, the Health Research Board Trials Methodology Research Network (TMRN) held a national writing competition in association with ‘The Irish Times’. Third prize went to Dr Carol Sinnott, a GP from Cork and a GP Research Fellow in the Department of General Practice at UCC who shares the advantages of being involved in a clinical trial for one of her patients.
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Faculty Development Update

29 Apr 2015

Providing Feedback to students is an extremely important aspect of medical student education.
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Medication Optimisation in Multimorbidity

12 Nov 2014

Dr Carol Sinnott and Prof Colin Bradley, Department of General Practice hosted a successful inaugural meeting on Medication Optimisation in Multimorbidity in the Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork on September 18th.
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2014 AUDGPI Annual Scientific Meeting UCC

24 Jan 2014

2014 AUDGPI Annual Scientific Meeting UCC
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