End of Year Review: HIQA Engaging and Working with Stakeholders Written by Angela Fitzgerald, HIQA, CEO
In 2023, as we emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed unprecedented challenges for those providing care in terms of meeting additional emergency and elective demands. Key drivers included unmet need as a result of the pandemic, coupled with pressures from demographic factors primarily associated with population growth, ageing and movement. On behalf of the Health Information and Quality Authority, I acknowledge the extraordinary efforts by staff in health and social care settings during the pandemic and beyond to meet the needs of people using services. However, there is no doubt that there has also been a significant impact on staff arising from these sustained efforts in terms of fatigue and overall resilience. In terms of patient and service user experience, it is also important to acknowledge that these combined challenges have also had an impact on those using health and social services in terms of timely access and safe effective care. HIQA was established in 2007 to drive high-quality and safe care for people using health and social care services in Ireland. Our remit is rapidly expanding
and our approach to regulation and inspection has evolved over time. In the 16 years since our establishment, we have gained pace in how we develop standards, inspect and review health and social care services, and support informed decisions on how services are delivered through our work in evidence synthesis and health information. For example, our work in the area of providing evidence synthesis has become increasingly important as Government seeks to address competing demands between new health technologies and treatments. In our approach to regulation, we have sought to be fair, proportionate and accountable. At the same time, we are very mindful of the imperative for HIQA to continue to be an advocate to ensure that the safety and welfare of all service users is promoted and safeguarded. There are also a number of important developments happening in the regulatory landscape. Earlier this year, the President signed the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 into law. This will bring new responsibilities for HIQA, including the expansion of our remit into private hospital
services, a requirement for all hospitals to report notifiable incidents to HIQA and an extended remit in relation to investigating individual adverse events in nursing homes. This is an important step in supporting the development of an open culture in health and social care services and enabling learning when things go wrong. Also, as many patients move between public and private care settings, this new legislation will provide a common regulatory framework to support standardisation of care. Over the past year we have also been preparing for other new significant areas of work, namely new functions under the Human Tissue (Transplantation, PostMortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Bill 2022, the monitoring of international protection accommodation services and the regulation of homecare services. The regulation of homecare services will support the safe management of individuals wishing to stay, and age, in their own homes, which we hope will also have an associated positive impact on demand for hospital services. We are working closely with the Department of Health to inform the development
DECEMBER - PROFESSIONAL 100 ISSUE - 2023 • HPN | HOSPITALPROFESSIONALNEWS.IE
of a Health Information Bill, which aims to ensure that Ireland has a fit-for-purpose national health information system. While our remit continues to expand, our vision remains the same; Safer Services and Better Care for All. A key objective for HIQA in delivering on our vision is to engage and work collaboratively with our stakeholders and use their feedback to inform our approach. These new regulatory roles and functions will require the development of new relationships to deepen our understanding of the operation of both public and private health and social care services. It also offers us an exciting new challenges as a regulator to extend national standards for safer better care to new services. We are committed to supporting health and social care providers to meet their regulatory requirements and will continue to engage with hospitals and other healthcare services in preparation for these new legislative changes. These new areas of work will place additional emphasis on another core value; promoting and protecting human rights. We know that for those who use our services, this is a fundamental principle when accessing healthcare services. We will continue to focus on this into 2024 and beyond, continuing to promote human rights as well as identifying, challenging and reporting on breaches of rights in health and social care services. As the regulator, it is also important that we are proportionate, fair and accountable in the exercise of our legal responsibilities, and that we advocate for change on behalf of both providers and those using our services, where appropriate. Our inspection reports are an important tool in both identifying what is working well and where improvements are needed. In 2023, a consistent finding through our inspection activity across both health and social care is the importance of good governance and management. We continue to highlight that well-governed and managed services enable better outcomes for people using them. Our inspections of emergency departments demonstrate that
