The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published a report and a video outlining what residents of services for people with disabilities told HIQA about their lives, experiences and the inspection process.

To inform the report, HIQA met with a number of forums for residents who live in designated centres for people with disabilities outside of the inspection process to seek their feedback and learn about what is important for residents.

In 2024, HIQA held 13 face-to-face forums across the country, with 103 residents across 13 different service providers to hear about their experiences of living in residential services. The report highlights what residents told inspectors about their rights, their understanding of inspections, what happens after an inspection and areas of importance to them. 

Launching the report today, HIQA’s Interim Deputy Chief Inspector of Social Services, Ciara McShane, said: “Feedback from people with disabilities living in designated centres is one of the most crucial sources of information for us. We would like to extend our thanks to all the residents for taking part in our Resident Forums in 2024. Your participation and feedback are invaluable to us and provide us with a way to hear your views outside of the inspection process.

“The findings from these forums highlight the importance of a person-centred approach to care, with residents emphasising the importance of ‘privacy’ during inspections. Residents also shared that they understood that HIQA’s role is to support them, make sure they are safe and help to drive improvement in their homes. Residents said that they would like HIQA to involve them in the inspection process more. The insights gained from these forums will play a key role in shaping future inspections, particularly in how we conduct inspections with and for residents.”

Many residents highlighted the importance of accessible information and requested that reports on their homes be made available in easy-to-read or alternative formats. HIQA remains committed to providing information in accessible formats for residents, for example, the video that accompanies this report, which has Irish Sign Language and subtitles. The report outlines a number of further actions HIQA is taking as a result of the feedback shared by residents. As part of this, HIQA has developed an easy-to-read guide and a video which outline what residents can expect during an inspection.

Ciara McShane continued: “As a result of residents’ feedback to us through these forums, we will endeavour to spend additional time with residents, ensure their privacy is always upheld and create easy-to-understand tools, using simple language and different formats.

“I would to again like thank the residents who took part, the staff members and advocates who supported them, and the service providers who facilitated the forums.”

A guide to HIQA inspections and the video are available here.

Ends.

Further information:

Zoe Forde, Communications Manager
085 802 1469, zforde@hiqa.ie 

Notes to the editor:

• HIQA regulates designated centres for people with disabilities against the Health Act 2007 (as amended), associated regulations and nationally mandated standards. Regulation sets the minimum level of service a person can expect to receive.
• As of the end of December 2024, there were 1,655 designated centres for people with disabilities, providing places for 9,246 residents.
• In 2024, HIQA completed 1,042 inspections of designated centres for people with disabilities