Welcome to our newsletter.
2023 has been another busy year for HIQA which has seen our remit and functions grow and our work continue in areas including the development of standards, conducting inspections, reviewing health and social care services and supporting informed decisions on how services are delivered.
The importance of safeguarding was underscored during Adult Safeguarding Day, which took place on 10 November, and our Chief Inspector of Social Services, Carol Grogan, highlighted the important role we all play in safeguarding.
We have published the terms of reference for our independent statutory review into governance and oversight of the use of surgical implants and implantable medical devices in Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), including at CHI Temple Street.
On 8 November, our Chief Inspector, Carol Grogan, and Deputy Chief Inspector with responsibility for services for people with disabilities, Finbarr Colfer, attended the Oireachtas to discuss rights-based care for children with disabilities.
The topics and areas that our evidence synthesis and evidence-based advice touches on can vary considerably. This was highlighted in recent months when we published several important reports in areas including the use of multiplex antigen tests for respiratory diseases, adding screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) to the National Newborn Bloodspot Screening Programme in Ireland and international approaches to health emergency stockpiling.
In our role as the competent authority for regulating medical exposures to ionising radiation, we set clinical audit procedures and establish and review national diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for medical procedures which use ionising radiation.
Last month, members of our Health Technology Assessment Directorate attended the ISPOR Europe Conference.
ISPOR is the largest scientific society in the area of health technology assessment with over 14,000 members worldwide. HIQA plays an active role in ISPOR activities. Our Director of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Dr Máirín Ryan has been appointed as a member of the ISPOR HTA Council and is Chair of the ISPOR HTA Roundtable Europe 2022 to 2024.
As a public sector body we understand that we have an important role to play in sustainability and decarbonisation in Ireland.
In line with the Government’s Climate Action Plan 2021 we have developed a Decarbonisation Roadmap.
Our resources on The Fundamentals of Advocacy in health and social care were highly commended at the Irish Healthcare Awards in the Royal Convention Centre, Dublin on 5 December. Health Information and Standards team members were in attendance and the resources were awarded ‘highly commended’ in the category ‘Crisis Management Response of the Year’. This project was recognised for its dedication and innovation, demonstrating exceptional achievement in the Irish healthcare community in improving healthcare in Ireland.
