People with disabilities

The Health Information and Quality Authority’s Social Services Inspectorate will be responsible for regulation of residential services for people with disabilities provided by the Health Service Executive (HSE), private organisations or voluntary bodies when the relevant parts of the Health Act 2007 are enacted.

The Standards

The Health Information and Quality Authority published National Quality Standards: Residential Services for People with Disabilities in 2009. These set out what a quality, safe service for people with disabilities in a residential service should be.

The standards are based on a positive vision for the development of services to support people with disabilities in Ireland. The standards embody the ideas of enablement and possibility. They focus on what people with disabilities can do when provided with the right support.

Implementing the standards

The Health Act 2007 states that all residential services for people with disabilities must register with us at the Health Information and Quality Authority. The relevant part of the Act has yet to be passed into law. When this happens, we will be responsible for registering residential services for people with disabilities. We will then begin inspections to ensure that all residential services are meeting the standards and that everyone living in residential care is getting the quality of support they deserve.

It is important for providers to begin implementing these standards and we will be developing an online self-assessment tool and guidance to support providers in their implementation.

More information

The National Quality Standards: Residential Services for People with Disabilities are grouped under seven headings which address quality of life, staffing, protection, development and health, rights, the physical environment and governance and management. Read the standards here: