Vol. 527 No. 5
147 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has given any consideration to introducing a national regulatory authority similar to the Inspector of Mental Hospitals which would have jurisdiction over geriatric and general hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25496/00]
As the House will be aware, a social services inspectorate was set up on an administrative basis last year. The plans for the inspectorate are that it will concentrate for the first three years on child care and, in particular, on children's residential centres run by the health boards. In the longer term, it is planned that the work of the inspectorate will be extended to cover the full range of personal social services provided by the health boards, including extended care services for older people.
In relation to the general hospital system I am pleased to inform the Deputy that funding has been provided for the development of an accreditation programme in the major academic teaching hospitals, MATH's. The accreditation programme will formalise standard setting and evaluation on a whole hospital basis. The objective of the scheme is to promote continuous quality improvement across each participating hospital. The focus of the standards is on the patient as he-she moves through an episode of care in the hospital. Standards have been developed around six inter-related functional areas applicable to each participating hospital: patient service groupings; leadership; information management; environment management; human resource management; and partnership
Development work as a whole, including the formal establishment of an Irish accrediting agency, is on schedule. The target date for the first formal survey is the final quarter of 2001.
