Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) was established in 2007 as an independent authority to drive high-quality and safe care for health and social care services in Ireland.

HIQA’s mandate extends across a range of public, private and voluntary sector services. Reporting to the Minister for Health and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, HIQA’s role is to develop standards, inspect and review health and social care services and support informed decisions on how services are delivered.

HIQA operates under the Health Act 2007, which sets out the functions which the Authority is to carry out. HIQA has responsibility for setting standards for healthcare services, and monitoring compliance with those standards. It also regulates facilities providing care for the elderly and those with disabilities, and has a role with regard to inspecting some of the social care services which are accessed by children to determine if they are meeting the relevant National Standards.

Following a statutory consultation process and Ministerial approval, HIQA published specific national standards for community health and social care services in Ireland (including nursing and residential homes), which cover infection prevention and control and antimicrobial stewardship. HIQA has also developed standards for other services, including national standards for the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections in acute healthcare services. HIQA has in turn conducted a thematic inspection programme against these standards since 2012.

HIQA has advised the Department all of its social care inspectors (i.e. for older persons’ and disability services) have a professional health and or social care qualification and experience relevant to the role. All of its 59 social care inspectors have had full training as a regulator, and are confident in assessing the quality of care in a designated centre which includes monitoring compliance with national standards and regulations related to infection prevention and control.

HIQA’s further advises that its 15 healthcare inspectors also have professional healthcare qualifications and training in monitoring compliance with national standards related to infection prevention and control.

In the context of this public health emergency, HIQA’s advises that its full cohort of inspectors have had enhanced training in assessing how well registered providers have planned for, can detect, respond to and manage an outbreak of COVID-19. In addition, training has been delivered to inspectors of social services on the public health measures required to undertake inspections.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 986 and 988 together.

Since 2009 the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, has been the statutory independent regulator in place for the nursing home sector, whether a HSE managed or a private nursing home. The Authority, established under the Health Act 2007, has significant and wide-ranging powers up to and including withdrawing the registration of a nursing home facility, which means that it can no longer operate as a service provider. This responsibility is underpinned by a comprehensive quality framework comprising of Registration Regulations, Care and Welfare Regulations and National Quality Standards.

HIQA monitors compliance with nationally-mandated standards and regulations to ensure that older people are receiving safe, high-quality and person-centred care. HIQA takes a risk-based approach to inspection and when information is received to suggest that there is a risk to the wellbeing of residents, HIQA uses this information to decide which regulations will be inspected against. Registered providers are required to be compliant with regulation 27 of the Health Act 2007 (Care and Welfare of Residents in Designated Centres for Older People) Regulations 2013 on infection control.

HIQA inspections can take place over one or two days, with the duration influenced by factors such as the:

-COVID-19 status of the centre

- reason for the inspection

- number of inspectors on inspection

- size of the centre

- findings during the course of the inspection.

Inspections progress rapidly in centres where residents are well cared for, the findings are good, and the provider is organised and the required documentation is readily available for review.