The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published a review of international regulators and quality improvement agencies which explores how these organisations use information in their work to improve health and social care services in their jurisdictions.

Professor Jane Grimson, HIQA’s Director of Health Information, said:” This international review looked at how information is used by regulators and other health and social care agencies in eight different jurisdictions: in New Zealand, Canada and Europe.”

“What we found was that, while there were some interesting findings from specific jurisdictions, a number of findings were common to all. These included; the importance of developing an information/intelligence strategy; publicly reporting on quality and safety indicators; leveraging information that is routinely collected; the value of capturing patient experience information; ensuring that what is measured and reported on leads to real improvements for people; and ensuring that the people being targeted for this information can understand it.”

“This international review is part of an ongoing project to guide HIQA on the best approach to adopt to ensure that our regulatory decisions are based on good quality information and evidence. The findings in this report will go towards making sure that how HIQA gathers and uses information is based on international best practice.”

As HIQA’s remit includes regulation and quality improvement, this review included both regulators of health and social care as well as agencies responsible for improvement of safety and quality of care, and it examined how they use information to inform their work.

Professor Grimson concluded: “This international review will inform recommendations on the most constructive and beneficial data for HIQA to report on, that will, in turn, inform and drive improvements in the quality and safety of health and social care in Ireland.”

The report is available to download here.

Ends.

Further Information: 

Sinead Whooley, Communications Manager, Health Information and Quality Authority. Tel: 01 814 7488/ 087 922 1941 Email: swhooley@hiqa.ie

Notes to the Editor: 

• In the area of health information, HIQA has responsibility for evaluating information resources, publishing information about the delivery and performance of health and social care services and using this information to deliver its regulatory functions.
• The eight jurisdictions reviewed were New Zealand, Canada (Ontario), England, the Netherlands, Denmark, Scotland, Wales (summary) and Northern Ireland (summary).
• The findings across many of the jurisdictions are similar. The predominant recommendations are:
  • to have a business intelligence or information strategy
  • to ensure that the emphasis is always on the patient, that the data collected and reported on result in improvements to the patient experience
  • to engage with as many stakeholders as possible to inform and improve the process
  • to start small and gradually build upon the intelligence function
  • to publish data in an intelligent, user friendly and accessible format, both in reports and online.