Under Section 8 of the Health Act 2007 the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) may set standards on safety and quality and monitor compliance with these standards. HIQA may also undertake an investigation as to the safety, quality and standards of the services if the Authority believes that there are reasonable grounds for doing so as set out in Section 9 of the Act. The National Standards for the Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAI) were introduced in 2009 and HIQA continues to monitor compliance with these Standards using the powers provided in the Health Act 2007. To date HIQA has carried out both announced and unannounced inspections in public hospitals around the country to monitor compliance with the HCAI Standards.
I approved the National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare in June 2012. The National Standards describe high quality safe healthcare services. Such services deliver care which is safe, effective, person centred and which promotes better health for service users. HIQA is currently developing a monitoring programme for the National Standards in 2014. Under Section 8 of the Health Act 2007 HIQA has the powers to monitor compliance with the National Standards. It will be a matter for HIQA to decide on the operational arrangements used to monitor implementation of the National Standards and if such monitoring requires unannounced visits to public hospitals.