Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
2636. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Health the measures that have been taken to date since the publication of the HIQA 2020 annual report (details supplied) to prepare or enact their suggested interim amendments to the Health Act 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38568/21]
View answerUnder the Health Act 2007, HIQA has significant and wide-ranging powers, up to and including the cancellation of registration of a designated centre where it has concerns about the quality of governance and oversight in such a service. Under the Act 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 is responsible for monitoring, inspecting and registering all nursing homes in Ireland to ensure that residents are safe and receive a high quality of care.
In August 2020, the Nursing Home Expert Panel (NHEP) report was published which contained 86 recommendations, across 15 thematic areas, many of which will require legislative measures to implement. HIQA also submitted a paper outlining a number of suggested amendments to the legislation governing the operation of designated centres for older people.
Having regard to the NHEP recommendations, learning from the pandemic and HIQA's suggested regulatory enhancements, Minister Donnelly and I approved a two-phased approach to examining the legislation with a view to proposing enhancements to the primary and secondary legislation governing nursing homes.
It is envisaged that phase 1 will bring forward interim enhancements to the primary legislative framework to, amongst other things, enhance the governance and oversight of nursing homes and improve the reporting of key operational data to support national planning in an integrated way and improve the information available. In January 2021 the Government approved the inclusion of a Health (Amendment) Bill 2021 on its legislative agenda. It is expected that, subject to Government approval draft Heads of Bill will be published by the end of the year.
In addition, secondary legislation will be drafted to enhance the current regulations in relation to a number of areas including infection prevention and control, governance and management and staffing.
A bilateral project group, established in October 2020 and comprising representatives from the Department and HIQA, is supporting the legislative process. This group, with support of legal expertise is undertaking detailed and focused work on the relative legislative proposals.
A wider review of the regulatory framework, phase 2, will commence in the second half of 2022, taking into account a programme of longer-term strategic reform considerations arising from inter alia pandemic learning with a view to exploring moving towards a service licensing system. HIQA has been requested to undertake an up-to-date international evidence review of nursing home regulatory models to support and inform the wider review. Engagement between the Department and HIQA on the research proposal and methodology is ongoing and it is expected that this research project will commence in 2021.
