According to the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), while the Irish hospital system adapted swiftly to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, reoccurring underlying issues of concern relating to non-compliance with national standards were evident. These issues included poor physical infrastructure, capacity issues and workforce challenges, which often hindered these very significant efforts.

Today, HIQA has published an overview report of the monitoring and regulation of healthcare services in 2020.

Throughout 2020, HIQA focused its healthcare monitoring resources on known areas of risk, with a particular focus on the management of COVID-19 across public acute hospitals, and rehabilitation and community inpatient services. These areas included infection prevention and control, governance and risk management, and medication safety. HIQA also continued to advance its newer role in regulating medical exposure to ionising radiation.

HIQA’s monitoring and regulatory activity in 2020 continued to identify that good governance and leadership is the first line of defence when providing safe, high-quality and reliable healthcare, particularly in response to the crisis situation posed by the global pandemic.

While HIQA has seen progress and improvement in achieving compliance with standards across various areas monitored, the many challenges since the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020 has put extreme pressure on every service. HIQA has noticed that despite an increase in both temporary and longer term investment in services in response to the pandemic, some healthcare services continue to be proportionately less resourced than others. In many hospitals, ongoing challenges posed by poor physical infrastructure and constrained service capacity continued to be identified by HIQA. These issues have been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

HIQA’s Director of Regulation, Mary Dunnion said: “The COVID-19 pandemic required HIQA to change our inspection plans in 2020 to focus on the challenges posed by the pandemic. In most instances, we found an effective approach to adapt to this unprecedented crisis in hospitals. However, hospitals’ efforts were made more difficult due to underlying historic problems with infrastructure, limited bed capacity and unequal or limited access to specialist workforce input and advice - problems that HIQA’s prior monitoring work against national standards has consistently highlighted.”

HIQA is supportive of the Sláintecare reform plans. The need to implement these plans will be even more important for patients as Ireland emerges from the pandemic. Complementary to this key reform effort, in 2022 HIQA will implement a new monitoring programme to drive improvements across all healthcare services.

HIQA’s Head of Healthcare, Sean Egan said: “The pandemic has further reiterated that a high performing, fit for purpose healthcare service that is compliant with national standards is required to meet Ireland’s needs now and into the future. HIQA remains committed to supporting continual and sustainable improvement across the healthcare services that we have a remit for monitoring or regulating. We intend to enhance our approach to future monitoring against national standards, to further support recovery and reform of services as we emerge from the pandemic.”
“In doing so, HIQA will continue to work closely and openly with all stakeholders and interested parties to advance the quality and safety of care for people who use healthcare services in Ireland.”

Ends.

Further information:
Marty Whelan, Head of Communications & Stakeholder Engagement
085 8055202, mwhelan@hiqa.ie

Notes to Editor:

• HIQA monitors public hospitals against national standards to promote continual, sustained quality improvement in healthcare services.
• HIQA will shortly launch a new monitoring programme against the National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare, implementing methodologies that can be applied to all healthcare services that fall under our monitoring remit, and that and are responsive to existing healthcare challenges.
  • Further detail related to this revised approach to monitoring services by HIQA will be communicated in the coming months.
• HIQA’s remit includes monitoring public hospital services against national standards under section 8(1)(c) of the Health Act 2007 (as amended), and the regulation of medical exposure to ionising radiation in both public and private healthcare and dental services in Ireland.
  • This includes 49 public acute hospitals inclusive of 19 maternity units and or hospitals.
  • In 2020, HIQA was responsible for monitoring 31 rehabilitation and community inpatient services. This was an increase of eight services from the previous year.
  • 1,671 ionising radiation services are regulated by HIQA.
• HIQA conducted 66 inspections in healthcare services in 2020 against the relevant national standards and regulations:
  • 14 were in acute hospitals for the purpose of monitoring against relevant National Standards
  • 25 were rehabilitation and community inpatient services, again for the purpose of monitoring against relevant National Standards
  • 27 were in healthcare or dental services for the purposes of regulation of medical exposures to ionising radiation.