Welcome to our newsletter.
This is a time of significant change within HIQA as we launched our draft Corporate Plan for consultation and welcomed both a new Chief Inspector of Social Services and a new Director of Healthcare Regulation in the past few weeks.
Both the draft Corporate Plan and these appointments reflect the expanding remit of the organisation into the regulation of healthcare and homecare services.
I welcome both Carol Grogan and Sean Egan to these roles and the significant experience and insight they will bring as we progress the regulation of health and social care services in Ireland.
This issue also invites you to give your feedback on our draft Corporate Plan and priorities for the next three years, building on our experience in the sector and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your views will help shape the direction of the organisation into 2024.
Last month, we shared our findings from a national public engagement on health information carried out with Department of Health and Health Service Executive (HSE) to ascertain the public’s views on the collection, use and sharing of health information. Public feedback was very supportive of the use and rollout of eHealth and digital records, showing a trust in healthcare professionals to use their health information.
Our next step is to use the findings to develop recommendations on a model for the collection, use and sharing of health information and address the public’s concerns about security, access and use of their data.
In line with this, we have developed recommendations on the need for reform of the health information system in Ireland which will be launched shortly. These recommendations are based on our experiences of working in the area over the past 12 years, and aim to further the development of a modern and robust national health information system that will support safe, integrated care.
We also invite you to get involved in our public consultation on the development of new overarching national standards for children using health and social care services. These standards aim to promote high-quality and consistent care and support for children as they access various health and social care services. Details on how to give your feedback are included further in this issue.
In this issue, we also share our findings of inspections in foster care services and in the notifications of radiation incidents we received in 2020.
It also includes details on the new programme of infection prevention and control inspections commencing in designated centres for older people and people with a disability this month.
Until next time,
Best wishes,
Phelim Quinn