HIQA’s medication safety monitoring programme, which commenced in 2016 aims to examine and positively influence the adoption and implementation of evidencebased practice in public acute hospitals around medication safety. HIQA monitors medication safety against the National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare, to determine if public acute hospitals in Ireland have:

• the required governance arrangements at a foundation level in place to drive improvement in medication safety
• recognised medication safety as a priority at a senior management level with a medication safety strategy and appropriate support
• effective arrangements in place to protect patients from harm related to medication use, in line with international best practice and research
• the essential elements of a medication safety programme in place.

From November 2016 to October 2017, 34 public acute hospitals were inspected as part of HIQA’s medication safety monitoring programme.