Madam, - I write on behalf of the Independent Hospital Association of Ireland (IHAI) regarding comments in your Editorial of July 16th on regulating quality in private hospitals. The IHAI represents private-sector hospitals.
In our submission to the Commission on Patient Safety and Quality Assurance the IHAI said a hospital licensing system for Ireland should provide a transparent, independent model of regulation, with the sole purpose of maintaining operational standards of safety and quality. It should provide a universal measure by which facilities, public and private, and the services they provide can be evaluated equitably manner and patients can satisfy themselves as to the standard of care.
We believe the licensing authority should be a statutory body, independent of providers and funders. In our submission to the Commission we suggested the licensing authority being established as an independent agency that either reports to or is an integral part of the Health Information and Quality Authority.
IHAI hospitals have been co-operating voluntarily with the Health Information and Quality Authority on a range of issues. This is a tangible expression of our commitment to having the same quality standards applied to public and private providers.
It is also a demonstration of our willingness to engage fully with the authority in the discharge of its role and that willingness has been expressed to the Department of Health and Children and the authority itself for some time.
- Yours, etc,
Dr DANNY O'HARE, Chairman, Independent Hospital Association of Ireland, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2.