HIQA is reviewing Ireland’s National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare to reflect changes in healthcare delivery, regulation and technology while keeping patient safety and person-centred care central.

The Irish Medical Times reports that the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has begun work to update Ireland’s National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare. The standards were first approved in 2012 and set out expectations for safe, high-quality care across primary, community and acute healthcare services, as well as private hospitals.

HIQA is Ireland’s independent authority responsible for promoting safety and quality across health and social care. Its national standards provide a common framework for describing what high-quality, safe and person-centred healthcare should look like and are used to support monitoring and improvement.

The standards have become more significant as HIQA's responsibilities have expanded. Since 2025, they have applied to private hospitals following the expansion of HIQA's remit under the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023, bringing private hospital services within the framework used for monitoring healthcare safety and quality.

The strategic significance lies in the changing environment in which healthcare providers now operate. HIQA says the review will take account of developments including the COVID-19 pandemic, digital transformation, technology-enabled care and major legislative reforms relating to patient safety, open disclosure and assisted decision-making. Forthcoming hospital licensing reforms will also inform the update.

For healthcare providers, this creates a broader governance requirement. Safe care increasingly depends not only on clinical practice but also on how organisations manage information, technology, accountability and operational risk. HIQA's standards are designed to provide a framework for services to identify areas for improvement and support consistent approaches to safety and quality.

Person-centred care is central to the review. HIQA has published a scoping review protocol examining the definitions and characteristics of safe, quality and person-centred care in healthcare settings. The findings will inform the development of the updated standards, linking the evidence base with the outcomes that matter to people using healthcare services.

The regulatory environment is also becoming more complex. HIQA has identified the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act, the NIS2 cyber security directive, the Critical Entities Resilience Directive and the European Health Data Space as developments that will inform the standards update. This places healthcare safety increasingly alongside information security, digital resilience and technology governance.

For health and safety teams, the implications extend beyond traditional clinical risks. Technology-enabled care and greater reliance on digital systems require organisations to consider how systems are governed, how information is protected and how responsibility is maintained when technology becomes embedded in healthcare processes.

The review also reflects the wider shift towards integrated and community-based healthcare under Sláintecare. As care moves beyond hospital settings, maintaining consistent standards across different services and operating environments becomes increasingly important to patient safety and continuity of care.

The standards already provide a framework covering areas including person-centred care, safe care and support, leadership, governance and management, workforce, use of resources and use of information. Updating that framework gives healthcare providers an opportunity to reassess how these areas operate within a more digitally enabled and regulated health system.

HIQA is undertaking the update through evidence synthesis, policy analysis and stakeholder engagement. Following the review and development of the updated standards, the authority says it will hold a public consultation to gather feedback before the revised framework is finalised.

For the sector, the lesson is direct: patient safety standards must evolve alongside the healthcare systems they govern. HIQA's review provides an opportunity to bring clinical safety, governance, digital resilience and person-centred care into a framework that reflects the increasingly complex environment in which Irish healthcare services operate.

Source: Irish Medical Times / HIQA