4.1  Requirement for Change 
The need for change was clearly highlighted from 
the interviews. For example, Interviewee 3 
explained that “change is overdue as every evening 
each patient and the interventions delivered to them 
have to be input. This is very time consuming. Also 
a big change that is needed is with the problem of 
patients not having a unique identifier”. As a 
solution to many of these issues, a number of 
projects were rolled out to improve services in 
Ireland and allow files to be viewed in more than 
one hospital. Interviewee 6 confirms that the project 
“was rolled out nationally with input locally”. 
However, they caution that some form of “follow-up 
should have happened as staff are not using all the 
features of the system” (Interviewee 6). Targeted 
training and proper scoping of projects was 
identified as potential solutions by a number of 
interviewees. The findings indicate within various 
departments in the hospital, change is a forward 
planning process, which is well documented and 
audited through various stages. Change required a 
cultural commitment from the organisation as a 
whole to accommodate a new set of procedures, one 
of which is the use of auditing.  
Stemming from a discussion on change, 
Interviewee 1 explained that change processes 
should be linked back to the concept of ‘the Iron 
Triangle’. They explained that the Iron Triangle 
describes the relationship between cost, quality, and 
access within the hospital’s department. The basic 
premise here is that a change (positive or negative) 
in one aspect of the triangle has a direct impact on 
the remaining two areas (Kissick 1994). Thus, while 
competing with each other, finding a balance and 
identifying what specific areas the department can 
trade-off becomes a key factor for change 
management teams. In addition, the reverse is also 
true – while improving one aspect of the Iron 
Triangle, change can also have a positive impact on 
the remaining two areas.  
For the purpose of this research, we focus on the 
quality aspects associated with implementing 
change. The specific quality, safety and risk 
management software used has different sections for 
various quality documents on best practice. 
Interviewee 1 suggests that the documents should 
also link to audits to guide the change process. In 
addition, risk assessments are also conducted to 
provide a proactive management approach to assess 
issues, which may provide future challenges. All of 
these efforts support the hospitals quality 
improvement plan to identify what implementations 
are required and record incidences. 
4.2  Attitudes towards New IT Systems 
and Processes 
The interviewees reported mixed views with the 
introduction of new IT systems and processes. While 
some seemed relatively pleased with the new 
systems, others report disappointment with the 
overall change and the manner in which the change 
process occurred. Specifically, we revisit the Iron 
Triangle to highlight how Access can improve 
Quality, which is highlighted by Interviewee 4: 
“overall it is an improvement as images can be view 
from multiple locations”. 
Interviewee 4 explains that “involvement of staff 
is crucial for buy-in” which suggests that change 
management is a much wider collaborative effort 
within a department. Interviewee 5 highlights this 
and explains that the implementation of some new 
IT systems represents “silo thinking as lack of 
understanding of standards, networking, eco-system 
and health informatics”. In addition, to 
accommodate a smooth change transition, training 
on a new system is vital. Interviewee 7 also shares 
similar concerns and highlights that “buy-in crucial 
to generate enthusiasm” about a change in service 
systems. In addition, they suggest “training should 
be relevant and timely” which may hamper user 
acceptance of IT-enabled innovation. Interviewee 10 
also concurs “getting buy-in from stakeholders was 
crucial and management had to communicate well to 
do this. Without buy-in there is no engagement. 
Open meetings are useful”. 
We learn that with some projects there were “too 
long a time delay from training to using the system” 
(Interviewee 4) which can hamper the initial success 
of an IT change management programme. 
Interviewee 6 shares similar concerns regarding 
training and suggests, “more frequent staff sessions 
needed. Overall staff felt that training was not 
sufficient and more difficult for older people. Staged 
training sessions would have helped such as 
introduction, advanced, super user training”. While 
some projects provide standard operating procedures 
(SOP) the inclusion of other software companies for 
supporting services may cause concerns for some 
users, for example, subcontracting support services 
(Interviewee 6).  
Our findings also suggest that communication 
regarding the objective of implementing change is 
critical. For example, Interviewee 7 raises the 
question: “What are the objectives?” and goes on to