During 2018, our Disability Team has been seeking the views of residents who live in designated centres in a range of ways. As well as gathering residents’ views while on inspection and through questionnaires, the team engaged with advocacy groups to seek residents’ views about the inspection process and how inspectors can recognise a good-quality service from the perspective of people living in centres.
Deputy Chief Inspector Finbarr Colfer said: “HIQA believes that understanding the needs and listening to the voices of service users is central to all of our work. Following suggestions from resident representative groups, we felt that the best way to engage with residents was through existing resident or advocacy groups. These groups are where communication and other supports are already available for residents and where residents are most likely to feel comfortable expressing their views.”
A pilot project in 2017 met with four advocacy groups from around the country. In 2018 we developed this engagement further, speaking with eight advocacy groups.
During these meetings we took the opportunity to tell residents a little about what HIQA does and why we do it, before seeking feedback from residents on how inspectors can know if their service is a good one. Finally, we asked residents how they found the inspection process. Through these meaningful meetings we gathered important feedback and learning. For example, residents said they wanted inspectors to sit and talk with them and get to know them during inspection.
As we move into 2019, we plan to incorporate this learning into how we conduct our inspections in the year ahead.
In 2019, we will continue to listen and learn from those who use services, so that we can continue to make a contribution to the improvement of disability services for people in Ireland.