James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Question 175: To ask the Minister for Health and Children when the National Standards for Nursing Home Care will be completed and published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25725/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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In January 2007 the Minister for Health & Children published a new set of draft national standards which will apply to all nursing homes. The standards were developed by a working group chaired by DoHC and included the Health Service Executive, Social Service Inspectorate and the Irish Health Services Accreditation Board. As the Health Act, 2007 provides that the enhanced inspection function will be taken over by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the draft standards were formally referred to Health Information & Quality Authority for consultation and finalisation. The Authority established a wide-ranging Working Group to finalise the draft standards. The terms of reference of the Group were to: review and develop the draft standards; establish a process for targeted and public consultation; oversee the public consultation process; consider feedback from the public consultation process; and finalise the draft standards for publication and inspection. The group held its first meeting on 30th January and have met on a regular basis since.

On 8 August, 2007 the Authority published their draft for public consultation prior to finalising the standards. Members of the public, service users, their families, service providers and all those with an interest in residential care for older people were invited to submit their views on the draft before Monday 17 September 2007.

The results of the public consultation were discussed at the most recent meeting of the HIQA Working Group on Friday 19th October. The final report of the Consultation has now been sent to HIQA and will be distributed to the Group in the coming days. It is proposed to hold 2 further meetings of the Working Group to finalise the standards. The next step in the process will involve the standards being referred to the Minister for approval. Following this, Regulations will be drafted to give statutory underpinning to the Standards.