Europe in the 21st century is a continent of cultural and ethnic diversity. Recent enlargement of the European Union to 27 states, constant flows of free trade and the migration of people have resulted in an increasingly diverse Europe. National health systems face the challenge of accommodating the cultural diversity of healthcare providers and service users. The Irish health system is an example of a national health system which has attempted to implement adequate planning and delivery of care and support services, encompassing the needs of minority ethnic communities (MECs) in a new and rapidly changing multicultural Ireland.This research focuses on the challenges of recent multiculturalism in Ireland and describes the Irish health sector’s process in the construction of the Whole Organisation Approach (WOA) as the framework for Irish hospitals to respond to the management of diversity and the provision of culturally sensitive healthcare service delivery to members of MECs.The aim of the research is to investigate how six hospitals have implemented the Whole Organisation Approach as recommended in the Irish Health Services Executive’s National Intercultural Health Strategy 2007-2012. Research findings indicate to what extent the Irish strategy has been implemented in each hospital and outline factors that promote and impede successful implementation at a hospital level and analyses how each of the three strands, i.e. organisational ethos, workplace environment and service elements necessary to support intercultural training, of the WOA have been implemented across the 6 hospitals.
