The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) and the Mental Health Commission (MHC) jointly developed these standards to promote improvements in how services conduct of reviews of patient safety incidents and intend to set a standard for cohesive, person-centred reviews of such incidents.

Reviews of patient safety incidents involve a structured analysis and are conducted using best practice methods, to determine what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and whether there are learning points for the service, wider organisation, or nationally.

These service-specific standards for acute hospitals under HIQA’s remit and mental health services under the remit of the MHC will play an important role in ensuring that the reviews of patient safety incidents are conducted in a transparent way, which enhances the future quality and safety of patient care.