The Centre in Ireland for Clinical guideline support and Evidence Reviews (CICER) in the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), in collaboration with RCSI University of Medicine and Health Science, will host a conference, “Our healthcare system, our voices: an evidence-based approach for healthcare”, on 23 October 2025 in Dublin.

The one-day conference will feature two international keynote speakers: Dr. Helen Bulbeck (Patient advocate and Co-founder of brainstrust) and Dr. Andrew Farmer (Professor of General Practice at the University of Oxford & past Director of the NIHR UK HTA Programme), along with Chief Clinical Officer of the HSE, Dr. Colm Henry.

The conference will bring together patients, members of the public, health professionals, and researchers to identify ways to better involve stakeholders in shaping the delivery of healthcare in Ireland. The conference will focus on stakeholder involvement in the development of both clinical guidelines and health technology assessments.

Clinical guidelines help health professionals to deliver the latest evidence-based healthcare. They do this by summarising current medical knowledge and providing actionable recommendations. In Ireland, clinical guideline development is led by guideline development groups, with National Clinical Guidelines prioritised and quality assured by the National Clinical Effectiveness Committee (NCEC). 

Health technology assessment is a multidisciplinary research process that collects and summarises information about a health technology. The information can cover a range of fields, including clinical effectiveness and safety, cost-effectiveness and budget impact, organisational and social aspects, and ethical and legal issues. The information is collected and presented in a systematic, unbiased and transparent manner to support decision-making.

Internationally there have been calls to include a wider range of stakeholders in shaping health services, such as patients, carers, parents and guardians, health professionals, and members of the public. 

In addition to the conference on 23 October, CICER is developing online learning materials to inform health professionals and patients and members of the public on how clinical guidelines are developed and how they can get involved. The full project protocol is now available on the HIQA website.

Dr. Máirín Ryan, Deputy CEO at HIQA and Director of Health Technology Assessment, said:
“We are delighted to be working with the RSCI University of Medicine and Health Sciences on this milestone event in the clinical guideline development and health technology assessment space in Ireland. The theme for this conference has been chosen to highlight the importance of collaboration across stakeholder groups, to develop clinical guidelines and HTAs that are relevant, reflective and optimised to best serve public health. We look forward to hearing from our keynote speakers on the day and also from the audience of patients and health professionals in attendance.”

The “Our healthcare system, our voices: an evidence-based approach for healthcare” conference is free-of-charge and is open to patients, the public, health professionals, and wider stakeholders. Registration is open from 12 September and more details can be found here.    

Dr. Barbara Clyne, Interim Head of the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, RSCI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, said: “This event provides a unique platform to strengthen collaboration, and bring together diverse voices to help shape evidence based healthcare in Ireland. We are pleased to collaborate with HIQA on this important initiative.” 

This research was funded by the Health Research Board [KTA-2024-035; APA-2022-030].

Ends
Further information: 
Caoimhe O’Connell
Communications Manager 
087 639 5916
caoconnell@hiqa.ie 

Notes to the Editor: 

• HIQA has today published the following document:
• Project Protocol: Scalable Training and Knowledge Exchange on guideline development for patients, public, and healthcare professionals (The STAKEholder Project)
• The CICER team was awarded the Knowledge Translation Award (KTA) by the Health Research Board (HRB) for “Scalable Training And Knowledge Exchange on guideline development for patients, public, and healthcare professionals: The STAKEholder project”. This project aims to improve knowledge exchange within the CICER grant by co-producing learning materials with patients, members of the public and health professionals.
• One set of key deliverables of the project are online learning courses. Two 30-40 minute courses will be developed: one for patients and the public and one for healthcare professionals, with the aim of strengthening knowledge about National Clinical Guideline development in Ireland. Two micro-learning videos will be about 60 to 90 seconds long each and designed to spread general awareness about National Clinical Guideline development in Ireland and how stakeholders can be involved in the process.
• This research is funded by the Health Research Board Ireland (KTA-2024-035; APA-2022-030).
  About our funder: “The Health Research Board (HRB) supports excellent research that improves people’s health, patient care and health service delivery. We aim to ensure that new knowledge is created and then used in policy and practice. In doing so, we support health system innovation and create new enterprise opportunities.”