Welcome to the latest newsletter on HIQA’s work, and my first issue as CEO.
I am delighted to have joined HIQA and I look forward to building on the excellent work currently underway within the organisation to improve health and social care services, and progress reform, for the benefit of all.
I am also looking forward to delivering on our vision for care in Ireland as our role and remit is set to expand into new areas of work and responsibility.
As I take up the role of CEO, the Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019 is currently going through the Houses of the Oireachtas. This piece of legislation, once enacted, will place a statutory responsibility on HIQA to monitor private healthcare facilities against national standards, and to receive and respond, where necessary, to notifiable patient safety incidents. This is an important and very welcome development to drive patient safety.
Furthermore, we welcome the upcoming extension of our powers to regulate homecare services and monitor international protection accommodation services, formerly referred to as direct provision. These new areas present challenges of course, but are extremely valuable pieces of work to protect some of society’s most vulnerable populations. We are preparing for powers in these new areas of work, including through the development of national standards for homecare and home support services.
We are also commencing a new role to review and approve new types of practices involving medical exposure to ionising radiation, as well as to review existing practices under certain circumstances. We also have responsibility for the specific justification of ionising radiation performed as part of a health screening programme or individual health assessment.
We will continue our important work drive the quality and standard of care for people through regulation and monitoring of services, developing national standards and guidance to drive best practice, and making recommendations in key areas such as reform of regulations, or to further progress a strong and effective health information system.
This varied remit is reflected in this issue of the newsletter, where we share our latest work across a wide-ranging set of topics, including in healthcare monitoring, regulation of social care, evidence synthesis and health technology assessment, health information and the National Care Experience Programme.
I look forward to working with all HIQA’s stakeholders to continue our work in these areas, and to extend safer, better care to more services. Together, we will continue HIQA’s longstanding record of ensuring high-quality and safe care for people using health and social care services.
Until next time,
Best wishes,
Angela Fitzgerald