The Readiness Assessment was conducted as part of the ‘HealthData@IE project’ led by the Department of Health in collaboration with the Health Information Quality Authority, the Health Research Board (HRB), key stakeholders in the Health Service Executive and across the health system.

The report is based on the experiences of 16 data holders responsible for 21 major health-related datasets in Ireland. The findings of this report are valuable in helping to identify where gaps exist, and what steps are needed to ensure health data holders in Ireland can meet their obligations under the EHDS Regulation to make datasets available and discoverable for secondary use through the Health Data Access Body (HDAB) service. The report outlines areas of good practice that currently exist across health data holders in Ireland and areas where further work is required.

The findings of the readiness assessment identified that key steps must be taken across Ireland’s health and social care system to prepare for the full depth of the EHDS Regulation’s requirements and the establishment of a HDAB service. For data holders to meet their obligations, effective infrastructure, governance structures and data-sharing practices are essential. Likewise, data holders need detailed rules and specifications to support changes in practices and to prepare for the operationalisation and establishment of a HDAB service.

As part of the HealthData@IE project, HIQA has also conducted an international review identifying best practices of interoperability in healthcare and health data secondary use. The findings of the international review and the readiness assessment are informing the development of a national interoperability framework that will support data holders in preparing and submitting their health-related data to the HDAB for health data exchange purposes. The national interoperability framework will ultimately make it possible for researchers, innovators and policy-makers to use this data in a trusted and secure way that preserves privacy.