New guidance designed to complement the National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare has been published today by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).

This Guidance aims to provide a common understanding and language for service users, patients and service providers on how the National Standards apply across all healthcare services and facilitates service providers in understanding and adopting the National Standards.

It includes examples of activities, arrangements, structures, processes or outcomes that are relevant to the National Standards. Also included are examples of what the practical application of the standards might look like in different sectors or settings, such as a primary care team, an ambulance service or a hospital.

Dr Deirdre Mulholland, Head of Standards and Methodology at HIQA, said: “The National Standards are important for patients, placing them at the heart of the care process, with a major focus on dignity, respect, effectiveness, efficiency and safety. They are aimed at protecting patients and radically improving services. The Guidance will help the people tasked with implementing the Standards understand how they can achieve compliance with them.”

“The Standards provide, for the first time, a national and consistent approach to improving safety, quality and reliability in our health service. Effective leadership and clear accountability, responsibility, planning and management throughout each service are among the requirements set out in these the National Standards. They will provide a roadmap for making this vision for safer, better healthcare in Ireland a reality.”

The National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare, which contain 45 Standards, were sanctioned by the Minister for Health in May 2012 and services provided or funded by the HSE , including hospitals, primary care and ambulance services, will be expected to begin to implement the new National Standards and begin to demonstrate their compliance with them.

The Standards are a first step towards a licensing system for the Irish healthcare system, both public and private, and the Safety and Quality Improvement Directorate of the Authority will develop Quality Improvement programmes to support HSE providers and HSE-funded providers in meeting the requirements of the National Standards.

The Authority will undertake an ongoing process of review and engagement with relevant interested parties to update this Guidance and to identify areas which may require more specific guidance.

ENDS

Further Information: 

Marty Whelan, Head of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement, Health Information and Quality Authority, 01 814 7481/ 086 244 7623/ mwhelan@hiqa.ie

Notes to the Editor: 

• The National Standards are organised into eight key themes which reflect the most important themes in the Irish healthcare context. They are:
  • person-centred care and support
  • effective care and support
  • safe care and support
  • better health and wellbeing
  • leadership, governance and management
  • workforce
  • use of resources
  • use of information
• The National Standards promote quality and safety, outlining wide-ranging principles to be followed by a local primary or community care service, ambulance service, or hospital, with the single aim of providing safer, better and more reliable care.
• You can also find HIQA on Facebook and Twitter