Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 December 2014
330. Deputy Dan Neville asked the Minister for Health the progress made following the signing of a memorandum of understanding by the Health Information Quality Authority and the Mental Health Commission on working together regarding the regulation of health, social care and mental health services. [47061/14]
View answerHIQA and the Mental Health Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 23 September 2013. This MOU has underpinned cooperation between the two bodies since then.
HIQA recognises the Mental Health Commission's role in helping to drive improvements to the quality and safety of social care services that are provided for people being cared for in the mental health services. In fulfilling its statutory responsibilities, since September 2013 HIQA has used the MOU to ensure that its work is consistent with its statutory remit and with the terms of the MOU.
HIQA has also used the MOU to inform its regulatory work when that work relates to care settings for which the Mental Health Commission also has a regulatory duty. This results in a complementary approach which ultimately serves the best interests of people who use social care services. HIQA has a strong and positive working relationship with the Mental Health Commission in this regard.
On 25-26 September, 2014, HIQA and the Mental Health Commission jointly hosted a two-day conference of EPSO (European Platform for Supervisory Organisations) in Dublin. This conference facilitated exchange of international information about the use of information in regulation, risk management, indicators of health system coverage and mental health services during economic crisis, and methodological frameworks and models for supervisory organisations. HIQA and the Mental Health Commission also interact through the work of Ireland's Health and Social Care Regulatory Forum.
