We marked 15 years of regulating nursing homes this month with the publication of an overview report at an event hosted in Dublin.
The event, ‘Reflecting on 15 Years Regulating Nursing Homes Past, Present and Future’ was opened by Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler.
On 26 September 2024, the Minister for Health commenced the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023. This piece of legislation expands HIQA’s remit into private hospitals and puts new requirements on health services providers to report notifiable incidents to HIQA and the Chief Inspector of Social Services. This will promote greater safety and transparency in healthcare services.
A health technology assessment conducted by HIQA has found evidence that two types of enhanced flu vaccines may be more effective than the standard flu vaccine in preventing cases of flu or flu-related hospitalisation in those aged 65 and older.
The digital transformation of health and social care services is a key focus both nationally and internationally. Last month, in partnership with the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health, we published the findings from the National Engagement on Digital Health and Social Care.
Alongside the Mental Health Commission, we have published a practical guide to support staff in health, mental health and social care services to implement national standards.
This guide, called ‘How to Put National Standards into Practice: An Implementation Guide for Health, Mental Health and Social Care Services’, aims to support staff along their journey to implement national standards, from getting ready for new national standards, to identifying opportunities to improve the quality and safety in services in line with existing standards.
In September, we hosted SINC, the International Innovation Network for Health and Care Regulators, for a two day conference in Dublin.
The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Health and Social Care Regulation in a Rapidly Changing World: Adapting to remain relevant and add greater societal value, while also supporting our staff through this change.
In August, we received €2.5 million in funding from the Health Research Board to continue to support the development of national clinical guidelines.
This four-year award will fund the Centre in Ireland for Clinical guideline support and Evidence Reviews (CICER), a partnership comprising HIQA, Trinity College Dublin and clinical and methodological experts, until 2028.
During recent months we have continued to advance our health technology assessment work across a diverse range of areas including publicly-funded services for fertility preservation, an alternative national emergency phone service for acute but non-urgent medical care, and a public consultation on updated guidelines for health technology assessments.
Welcome to our August newsletter.
This year is an important one for HIQA as we mark 15 years of regulating nursing homes.
HIQA was established in 2007 and our first inspections of nursing homes began in 2009. During the intervening 15 years, our regulation remit has grown to include many areas within health and social services such as disability services, children’s special care units, healthcare and ionising radiation.
1 July 2024 marked our 15th anniversary of regulating nursing homes.
Since July 2009, we have been responsible for monitoring, inspecting and registering designated centres for older people, also known as nursing homes, to ensure that residents receive a high quality of care.
