Mr. Phelim Quinn:

On behalf of HIQA, I wish to thank the Chairman and members for the opportunity to address the Committee of Public Accounts this morning. As the Chairman has said, I am accompanied by my colleagues Ms Mary Dunnion, director of regulation and chief inspector of social services and Mr. Brian McEnery, chairperson of the board.

At our appearance before this committee on Thursday, 28 September, the issue of potential conflicts of interest arose, specifically with regard to Mr McEnery and his role as both chairperson of the board of HIQA and as an adviser to nursing home operators. Subsequently, an article was published in a Sunday newspaper, which was discussed by the committee last week. In order to help answer any questions the committee may have, I wish to outline HIQA's governance arrangements and how we handle conflicts of interest.

HIQA is committed to high standards of corporate governance. We have a clear policy on conflicts of interest, which ensures that staff and board members are aware of their obligation to act in the best interests of HIQA and to avoid situations where there may be a potential or actual conflict of interest. This policy is in line with Government policy, as set out in the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies 2016.

HIQA’s code of governance and code of business conduct, which was approved by the Minister for Health in October 2014, also reflects the obligations of board members and staff under the ethics in public office legislation. Both documents have been submitted to the committee for reference. Our policy and procedures on conflicts of interest apply to board and staff members and are adhered to at all times. Furthermore, at the beginning of every board session, the sub-committees of the board and attendees from HIQA's management team are requested to declare any real or potential conflicts of interest. Any declarations are recorded in the relevant minutes.

All of HIQA's inspection staff work within a scheme of determination, which must be agreed to and signed upon commencing employment with HIQA. This scheme of determination clearly shows the level of regulatory decision-making the chief inspector permits her regulatory staff to make. In addition, regulatory staff work within a specific code of conduct, which includes a confidentiality clause.

The regulation of designated centres is based on a series of steps. This includes the initial receipt of information, which can include mandatory notifications, unsolicited concerns and protected disclosures; inspection activity, that is announced, unannounced or registration inspections; and the creation of a centre profile, which contains a description of the centre, a regulatory assessment of information received and the findings of inspections.

All regulatory activities, whether information or evidence received, regulatory judgments or inspection reports, are gathered, generated and saved within a secure information management system. Access to this system is determined and approved only by the chief inspector. No member of HIQA's board has access to this system.

Regulatory risk and judgments, and potential and actual enforcement actions, are managed by HIQA's regulatory risk committee, chaired by the chief inspector. All records of this meeting, decisions made and actions planned are stored within the information management system.

The chief inspector provides a monthly assurance report to HIQA's executive management team, a bi-monthly report to the board of HIQA and a quarterly report to the board's regulation committee. These assurance reports include an update on progress made against annual business plan objectives, details on the frequency of meetings of HIQA's regulatory risk committee and details of mitigating actions taken against any regulatory risks. Reports on quality assurance include information on key performance indicators, internal audit reports and an update on the external stakeholder engagement schedule. Furthermore, the chief inspector produces and publishes an annual report detailing all regulatory activities, which is a requirement of the Health Act 2007.

As CEO, I, along with the chief inspector and director of regulation and other officials from HIQA, regularly attend Oireachtas committees when requested. So far this year, we have presented to the Committee on the Future of Healthcare, the Joint Committee on Health, the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs and, of course, this committee.

Finally, HIQA has received correspondence from a private nursing home provider containing a number of assertions regarding perceived conflicts of interest. This correspondence was copied to some Members of the Oireachtas. HIQA has directly replied to this through our chief inspector and director of regulation, Mary Dunnion, and separately through our board chairperson, Brian McEnery. We have made all of this correspondence available to committee members. I will now hand over to chairperson of HIQA's board, Mr. McEnery, who will address specific points raised.