Welcome to the April issue of our newsletter.

Changes in the health and social care sector can happen quickly. As the sector is fundamentally about services being delivered by people for people, such changes can impact on the people using services, service providers, decision-makers, funders and on HIQA as the regulator. Over the past few months we have seen some key changes to our role and the regulations we monitor against which we share with you in this issue. 

There are also significant developments in terms of national policy, technology and legislation taking place which will have implications for HIQA’s core functions. In this context, at the end of March, the Secretariat for the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) relocated to HIQA from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. This move means that NIAC’s work has become a statutory function of HIQA, but the fundamental aims and goals of NIAC remain unchanged. Within HIQA, NIAC will continue to deliver independent advice to the Minister for Health, develop the National Immunisation Guidelines for Ireland and advocate for best immunisation practices in Ireland, as it has done for almost 25 years now. I welcome the addition of the function and the expertise and experience of the team joining HIQA, and look forward to working with them in this new area. 

Technology is a significant driver of change in the health and social care environment. It can support and enable service providers to deliver improved experiences and outcomes for people using those services. With the rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) including in the health environment, the Department of Health has commissioned HIQA to undertake a scoping consultation to inform the development of a National Framework for the Responsible and Safe Use of AI in Health and Social Care. The consultation will remain open until this Friday, 2 May. Following this, we will develop the draft National Framework for wider public consultation later this year which will consider the responsible, safe and ethical framework to promote awareness and build good practice among service providers and staff about the responsible and safe use of AI in health and social care services. 

When we consider regulatory changes, it is important to acknowledge a range of significant changes to nursing home regulations that came into effect in March. They represent the most extensive update to the regulations since the commencement of regulating nursing homes in 2009, and they aim to better support nursing home residents’ overall experience in residential care and drive improved governance in nursing homes. Some everyday examples of what these changes mean in practice includes nursing home providers now being required to facilitate access to the Internet for residents and broadening the definition of family to include a nominated close friend for support. We welcome these updates, and most importantly the change and improvements that they will bring about for nursing home residents.

The impact of regulation on people’s lives was also evident when we published an Overview Report on HIQA’s first year of monitoring and inspecting permanent international protection accommodation service centres in March. HIQA assumed responsibility for this function in January 2024, by agreement with the then Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. This was a significant milestone for the sector and for HIQA, as this is the first time these centres were subject to monitoring and inspection by an independent body. There was extensive planning and stakeholder and provider engagement to prepare for this new function. In particular, HIQA sought to prepare providers for the regulatory process and provided supports and advice on what is expected of them. During 2024, we conducted 61 inspections which included follow-up inspections where risks or concerns were identified. We found that overall there are good levels of compliance against a number of standards. There are also very clear challenges in terms of ensuring that all people seeking asylum in centres are safe and protected from risk. We will continue to promote improvements in accommodation centres, working with stakeholders and providers and consulting with residents of accommodation centres.  

Earlier this month, we published a report on our Statutory Review into Governance and Oversight of the Use of Surgical Implants and Implantable Medical Devices in Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), including at CHI Temple Street. The findings of the review were significant and we made 19 recommendations to improve governance and oversight of the introduction and use of medical devices, including surgical implants. At the heart of this review is the experience of those children who had the springs implanted, and their families. We would like to thank the families who engaged with us and provided valuable insights into their experiences of the service and also other patient stakeholder groups who shared their experiences and insights. 

We expect that the recommendations made in our report and the learnings that have emerged from this process will impact positively in the future governance and management arrangements in CHI. Our national recommendations will also support the implementation of improved governance and management of medical devices across all public and private hospitals. We will continue to engage across the health sector to support improvements in governance arrangements. I would also like to thank our review team, who have worked tirelessly since this review commenced. This work is reflective of our mission and values as an organisation as we strive to protect people who use services and improve the quality and safety of health and social care services for all people in Ireland. 

In this newsletter readers will also find information about the National Maternity Experience Survey, which is about to get underway; updated national guidelines for economic evaluation and budget impact analysis of health technology assessments and work being undertaken by CICER, the Centre in Ireland for Clinical guideline support and Evidence Reviews as they develop and pilot a tool to estimate the cost of infectious disease outbreaks in public acute hospitals.

Until next time, 

Angela