Ireland | HIQA and Ombudsman agreement will benefit the public and health services

On 2 July 2015, the Chief Executive of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), Phelim Quinn, and Ombudsman Peter Tyndall signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on behalf of the Authority and the Office of the Ombudsman. The MoU will facilitate the exchange of information and complaints between both Offices in the best interests of the public and the health and social care services. The agreement will also establish procedures to assist members of the public in accessing the services of both organisations.

Speaking at the signing, Ombudsman Peter Tyndall said:

"The complaints landscape in Ireland, particularly in the health and social care sector, is fractured and complex. There is an onus on regulatory and complaints handling bodies to ensure that complaints or information received from the public is channelled to the appropriate office. This ensures that anyone with concerns about the service they have received can have those concerns addressed properly, thoroughly and promptly. My Office and HIQA have separate but complementary roles in the health and social care area and on occasion complaints or information received by either office can be of use and benefit to both our offices. This MoU is particularly timely from my Office's perspective as I will shortly be given jurisdiction over private nursing homes."

 Chief Executive of HIQA, Phelim Quinn said:

“As we have seen from recent investigations, actively seeking feedback from service users and their families is key to patient quality and safety in the Irish healthcare setting. Without listening to service users there is no opportunity for those working in healthcare to learn and improve the quality and efficiency of services. Efficient, reliable and safe patient care is one of the benefits of listening to and learning from the experiences of service users.

 Although our remit prevents the Authority from investigating individual complaints, we use the information provided to inform our monitoring activity of the centres involved. This information is passed to the provider of the service to investigate. This MoU with the Ombudsman will enable appropriate and effective sharing of information on complaints and concerns about services.”

 The full text of the MoU is available on the websites of both offices:

www.ombudsman.gov.ie and www.hiqa.ie

 Source: Office of the Ombudsman and HIQA, Ireland