The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has published 10 inspection reports on compliance in healthcare services with the National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare. Inspections were conducted between May and September of 2025.

Across all inspections, services were found to promote a culture of kindness, dignity and respect. Inspections found that three services achieved substantial to full compliance in all areas inspected: Blackrock Health Blackrock Clinic, Mater Private Network Cork, and Bon Secours Hospital Tralee. Good overall levels of compliance were also found in UPMC Kildare and St Vincent’s Private Hospital. Services found to be compliant had demonstrated well-structured oversight, clear lines of accountability, and effective leadership.

In eight of the 10 services inspected, some degree of improvement was required to ensure service users were protected from the risk of harm associated with the delivery of healthcare services. Examples of areas that required attention in one or more inspections included improvements in management and oversight arrangements, workforce planning, the physical environment and the monitoring and evaluation arrangements to support and promote the delivery of high-quality, safe and reliable healthcare services.

Nine of the 10 services inspected required improvements to the physical environment to varying degrees. In particular, at Naas General Hospital, UPMC Kildare, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda and Tipperary University Hospital, it was found that the significant improvements to infrastructure were required to address risks related to infection prevention and control.

At Bantry General Hospital, inspectors noted improvements had been made since the previous inspection. Inspectors found that the hospital had workforce management arrangements in place to support day-to-day operations to meet service needs; however, there was an over reliance on agency and contract arrangements at consultant level, and monitoring and risk oversight mechanisms required strengthening.

In Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and Naas General Hospital, there continued to be greater demand than availability for inpatient beds which impacted on the effective management of the emergency department. While Tipperary University Hospital was compliant with most of the HSE’s targets for patient experience times (PETs) in the emergency department, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Naas General Hospital were not compliant with the majority of the HSE’s targets for PETs. This resulted in high numbers of admitted patients still being accommodated in the emergency department while waiting for an inpatient bed which affected patients’ privacy and dignity. Overall, while inspectors found that some progress had been made since HIQA’s last inspections in these services, further action was required to improve the quality and safety of care for patients in the emergency department.

In Tipperary University Hospital, particular gaps were identified in the oversight of medication safety, management of the deteriorating patient and ensuring the assessed needs of patients were consistently met. Significant improvements were also required in Tymon North Unit at Tallaght University Hospital, including to governance, oversight and monitoring, and risk management mechanisms to support comprehensive medication safety practices and ensure that the nursing and healthcare staffing ratio was based on a needs or activity analysis. In addition, improvements were required to ensure that the service proactively sought and acted on the patients’ views, preferences and feedback was taken into account to improve the service.

HIQA continues to engage with each service where non-compliance was identified to ensure compliance with the national standards.

Notes to Editors:

• As of 26 September 2024, under Section 8 of the Health Act 2007 (as amended), HIQA is responsible for monitoring compliance with national standards in publicly-funded healthcare services and private hospitals. Using these powers, HIQA may make recommendations for improvement of care, but under current legislation HIQA cannot enforce their implementation.
• The National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare describe a vision for high- quality, safe healthcare and provide a roadmap for improving the quality, safety and reliability of healthcare. They aim to ensure consistent quality care across both public and private hospitals.
• HSE patient experience times is a metric used by health services to quantify the length of time patients wait in an emergency department before they are either discharged or admitted to hospital.
• HIQA judges the service to be compliant, substantially compliant, partially compliant, or non-compliant with the standards. These are defined as follows:
  • Compliant: A judgment of compliant means that on the basis of this inspection, the service is in compliance with the relevant national standard.
  • Substantially compliant: A judgment of substantially compliant means that on the basis of this inspection, the service met most of the requirements of the relevant national standard, but some action is required to be fully compliant.
  • Partially compliant: A judgment of partially compliant means that on the basis of this inspection, the service met some of the requirements of the relevant national standard while other requirements were not met. These deficiencies, while not currently presenting significant risks, may present moderate risks, which could lead to significant risks for people using the service over time if not addressed.
  • Non-compliant: A judgment of non-compliant means that this inspection of the service has identified one or more findings, which indicate that the relevant national standard has not been met, and that this deficiency is such that it represents a significant risk to people using the service.