Key details
Irena Chojnacka
HEE Project Lead ACP e-portfolio
Irena is the HEE Project Lead ACP e-portfolio for the School of Health Sciences.
Irena joined the university in 2005, her current role focusing on external working partnerships with NHS Trusts and the leadership of several project in accordance with current health policy and workforce development. Since that time she has also deputised for the Dean of School.
Irena's clinical background is intensive care, and accident & emergency care nursing; her current engagement with practice through her link tutoring role spans a range of adult nursing clinical areas. She was instrumental in the development and the securing of adult pre-registration commissions with Barts NHS Trust and as also Lead link tutor for the Trust, attends various strategic and operational education meetings.
Irena has a long standing and continued interest in partnership working with stakeholders. Irena has a successful track record in collaborating and developing education provision to meet NHS workforce requirements.
Additionally, Irena is Key Account Manager for Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust. She also liaises and works with several local and potential NHS partners to ensure education provision meets workforce requirement and demand. She has specific responsibility for the management and maintenance of the educational audit schedule of adult placement areas.
Posts held previously:
- Interim Director of Healthcare Partnerships (July 2017-current)
- Professional Lead - School of Health Sciences (current)
- Acting Deputy Head of Department (ANPS)(6 months)
- Acting Head of Department (ANPS) (5 months)
Responsibilities within the university
- Provide leadership in the liaison with healthcare partners
- Develop strategies for establishing and enhancing partnership working with health and social care providers to secure the best possible undergraduate and postgraduate education for healthcare practice
- Liase with the relevant Heads of Department and the faculty's marketing and recruitment manager to maximise recruitment to healthcare programmes
- Provide leadership for practice-based learning within the faculty's healthcare programmes both within the university (e.g. simulation) and where it takes place with partners organisations.
- Establish systems to ensure that educational programmes meet the requirements of healthcare providers.
- Ensure that the quality requirements and standards of regulatory and statutory bodies for practice-based learning are met and to have overall responsibility for the enhancement, Implementation and management of the faculty's healthcare practice learning governance framework.
- Liaison with the Pro Vice Chancellor and have lead responsibility for agreeing recruitment targets/reviewing and agreeing MOUs with healthcare partners
Recognition
Faculty representation in attendance:
- Council of Deans AGM
- London Directors of Nursing
- London Higher Education Institution (HEI) Deans
- London Commissioning Board-Directors of Nursing(London)
- Steering Group, Barts NHS Trust HEI
- Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), Directors of Nursing, London and South of England
- HENWEL/LAS Strategic joint HEI meetings, Paramedic programmes
- Nursing and Midwifery Council Sign off, for Return to Practice students
- Key Account Manager, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Research / Scholarly interests
Irena's research interests have focused on Leadership strategies, in particular servant leadership and emotional intelligence as organic paradigms of leadership theory.
Key funded projects
- Guy's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: A randomised control trial of Pre-Tibial Lacerations- Accident and Emergency Department (lead research nurse) London
Recent publications
Article
Cleaver, Karen , Don, Caroline, Chojnacka, Irena, Essex, Ryan , Weldon, Sharon Marie , Markowski, Marianne (2023), A systematic scoping review of undergraduate Nursing Hub and spoke placement models. MA Healthcare Limited. In: , , , . MA Healthcare Limited, British Journal of Nursing, 32 (5) ISSN: 0966-0461 (Print), 2052-2819 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2023.32.5.252).