Older People's Services

HIQA's Older People's inspection team are legally responsible for the monitoring, inspection and registration of designated nursing homes in Ireland.

We are a team of people from a variety of backgrounds such as nursing, social work, legal, pharmacy and environmental health. We have all been trained to carry out inspections and many of us have years of experience working in nursing homes.

Our main goal during inspection is to meet as many people as possible, including residents and families. We also speak with members of staff, the person in charge and the person who represents the provider service. This gives us an insight into the running of the nursing home and the good aspects of care there, such as residents being involved in the running of the centre.

What we do

We use regulations and National Standards to monitor and inspect nursing homes.

This ensures that providers of care are aware of the level of service they should provide to residents. Inspections ensure that services meet the requirements set out by the Health Act 2007, regulations and National Standards in order to be registered to operate.

We carry out different types of inspections, some of which are announced and unannounced.

The Regulations

The Health Act and its amendments:

During our inspections

We are seeking assurance that the regulations are being adhered to.

We want to know that older people who are receiving residential care:

are safe
their rights are respected
they are included in decisions about their care
the care provided matches their individual health and social needs, and
that they have a good quality of life.

After the inspection

We then publish all our inspection reports on our website.

These reports gives information to the public on what it is like to live in the centre and to see if a centre provides consistently good care.

We also receive unsolicited information by persons who may have a concern about the care provided. Inspectors review all of this information and use it to inform our work. Our aim is to ensure that good care is provided to residents, and we take necessary action to enforce this when required.