Hospitals advised on improving safety and quality

Hospitals and other healthcare providers have been provided with new guidance for improving quality and safety by linking recommendations in official reports with national standards.

A report from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) highlights the frequency with which recommendations in its reports are linked to national standards for providing quality healthcare.

To date, Hiqa has completed seven investigations, one statutory inquiry and three reviews. These include reports into hospitals in Ennis, Mallow, Portlaoise and Galway, prompted by specific adverse events.

The resulting reports have made 232 recommendations requiring hospitals to ensure their model of service is well planned, clearly articulated and fully understood by all those involved in providing it.

The largest group of recommendations, 40 in total, in the reports related to the need for formalised accountability and governance. Twenty-two recommendations related to the importance of the correct model of care, and 16 each on evidence of best practice ad monitoring the effectiveness of healthcare. Fourteen related to the importance of integrated care, management arrangements and monitoring arrangements for acting on opportunities to improve care.

The authority says many improvements to patient safety do not involve additional financial resources. “Rather, they involve commitment of competent individuals to planning, managing and working in the service to ensure effective safe practices.”

It says: “It is recognised that all individuals working in healthcare can improve patient safety by engaging with patients and their families, learning from errors, sharing the learning across the service and communicating effectively within and across the healthcare team.”

“Understanding all of the contributory issues that lead to errors is fundamental for considering the changes that need to be put in place to try to prevent the same errors being repeated.”