Public consultation on draft National Standards for Home Support Services in Ireland

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HIQA is developing draft National Standards for Home Support Services. These standards will cover home support providers caring for and supporting people to live in their own homes for as long as possible. These standards set out what outcomes a person using home support services should expect and what a service provider needs to do to achieve these outcomes. 

HIQA is developing these standards to drive improvements in the provision of home support services. The standards aim to promote progressive quality improvements in home support services and give a shared voice to the expectations of the public, people using services, service providers and staff. 

HIQA is progressing the development of the standards under the existing standard-setting provisions of the Health Act 2007. This will provide the previously unregulated home support sector with the opportunity to become familiar with the standards and adopt the standards voluntarily, which will help to promote readiness in the sector in preparation for upcoming home support legislation. 

The draft national standards are underpinned by four principles. These four principles are:

  • a Human Rights-based Approach
  • Safety and Wellbeing
  • Responsiveness
  • Accountability.

We want to hear your feedback about the draft national standards.

HIQA is holding a public consultation from 04 November 2024 to 13 December 2024. The public consultation gives people the opportunity to provide feedback on the draft standards and become involved in the development process by submitting their views to us. 

As these standards will apply to organisations providing home support services, we welcome feedback from people using home support services, their families and carers and staff working in home support services, advocates, researchers and policy-makers and the general public. To make the standards more accessible and enable greater engagement and feedback from all stakeholders, we have also developed an easy-to-read version of the standards and an easy-to-read feedback form. 

We will carefully assess all feedback received and use it, along with other available evidence, to further develop the draft national standards.

The fastest way to provide feedback is to complete the online questionnaire. An easy-to-read version of the questionnaire is also available online.

Your comments can also be submitted by downloading and completing the relevant consultation feedback form below and then emailing your completed form to us at: standards@hiqa.ie 

Alternatively, you can complete and post the completed form to us at:

Health Information and Quality Authority
Draft National Standards for Home Support Services 
Dublin Regional Office
George’s Court, George’s Lane
Smithfield, Dublin 7
D07 E98Y 

The deadline for receipt of submissions is 5pm on Friday 13 December 2024.

At the end of this public consultation, your comments will be collated and will inform the development of the draft national standards. HIQA will also be running focus groups to further inform the development of these standards.

The consultation feedback form is available online and an easy-to-read version of the consultation form is also available online. Both forms are available in pdf format below.

HIQA has published an evidence review which summarises the national, international and academic evidence on best practices for people using home support services. 

For further information or if you have any questions, you can email the Standards Team at standards@hiqa.ie or call 01 814 7400 and ask for a member of the Standards Team to contact you.

Evidence review
Consultation feedback form