Safeguarding – HIQA News

New adult safeguarding regulatory inspection programme launched

We have commenced a regulatory programme of inspections focusing on adult safeguarding in nursing homes and centres for people with disabilities.

Speaking about the new programme, our Chief Inspector of Social Services Carol Grogan, said: “Safeguarding relies on people and services working together to ensure that people using services are treated with dignity and respect and that they are empowered to make decisions about their own lives.”

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Our roadshow events and webinars for service providers get underway

Our stakeholder engagement calendar became busier as we moved into Autumn, with a number of in-person seminars taking place along with several webinars.

Message from our CEO, Angela Fitzgerald

Welcome to the latest issue of our newsletter.

Safeguarding people using services, and upholding their human rights, is a core component of what we do in HIQA. This is reflected in our 2021 Annual Report, published earlier this week, and through our work in the National Inpatient Experience Survey, regulation of disability services and the development of National Standards for Homecare and Support Services, as outlined in this issue.

Update on national standards for health and social care

Since August 2020, over 8,000 people have completed our online learning module to support the implementation of the National Standards for infection prevention and control in community services.

People with disabilities living in congregated settings have a poor quality of life

Our overview report of regulation in designated centres for people with disabilities in 2019 found evidence that residents living in congregated settings were at higher risk of having a poor quality of service and life.

Safeguarding and implementing a human rights-based approach

Shauna McCarthy pictured at the National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) Conference on 12 February 2020.

Over the past month, we have been distributing our recently published Guidance on a Human Rights-based Approach in Health and Social Care Services and the National Standards for Adult Safeguarding to a wide range of health and social care services.

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National Standards for Adult Safeguarding

John Farrelly, CEO of the Mental Health Commission (MHC); Rosemary Smyth, MHC Director Standards and Quality Assurance; Minister for Health Simon Harris TD; Phelim Quinn, CEO of HIQA; and Rachel Flynn, HIQA Director of Health Information and Standards.

HIQA and the Mental Health Commission have published National Standards for Adult Safeguarding, launched by the Minister for Health last week

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Message from the CEO

Phelim Quinn, HIQA CEO

Welcome to our newsletter.
Our core focus in HIQA has always been to safeguard people in Ireland’s health and social care services, and this year we put particular focus on upholding the human rights of people, particularly for those people who may be vulnerable.
We have seen the culmination of this work over the past few weeks in a number of projects. One such example is the National Standards for Adult Safeguarding, a joint initiative with the Mental Health Commission.
We hope that these standards will be one way in which abuse and neglect can be actively minimised and prevented in health and social care services. While HIQA welcomes the Department of Health’s commitment to developing policy and legislation in this area, we urge for this to be progressed as quickly as possible.

Guidance on a Human Rights-based Approach in Health and Social Care Services published

We have published new guidance to support services and the staff who work in them to implement a human rights-based approach to care and support for adults.

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