Mary is a highly experienced independent healthcare consultant with significant experience in leading and managing inquiries and reviews in relation to safety incidents across a wide range of private and public healthcare bodies.  She has very considerable expertise and experience in the management of complaints and incidents.

As a speech and language therapist, Mary established the speech and language service in the Midland Health Board. She later worked as Director of Corporate Fitness for the Midland Health Board, being a member of the senior management team.  She then assumed the role of Head of Consumer Affairs in the Office of the CEO in the HSE and subsequently as Director of Advocacy in the Quality and Patient Safety Directorate of the HSE.  She was responsible for the development and implementation of the national policy for complaints management in the HSE.

Mary is a current member of the Fitness to Practice Committee of the Irish Medical Council and current chair of the Monitoring Committee that monitors doctors’ compliance with conditions attached to their registration following a fitness to practice inquiry or professional competence assessment.  She has also been appointed by the Medical Council to hear appeals from doctors who have been denied registration by the Medical Council.  As an accredited non-medical assessor for professional competence for doctors, she has participated in a number of assessments of doctors.

Mary is a professional investigator and reviewer.  She has led a number of investigations in the public and private healthcare sectors using Systems Analysis which is the recognised best practice method for safety investigation.  She regularly delivers training on a range of healthcare risk management issues to include complaints management, investigations and open disclosure.  She is a certified mediator (IMI) and has been contracted to mediate healthcare disputes.