Disability care standards will not be made statutory

NEW national residential disability care standards will not be given the full force of law because of a lack of funding, the Minister of State with special responsibility for Equality, Disability and Mental Health admitted yesterday.

John Moloney said that given the current “fiscal situation” it was not proposed to move to full statutory implementation of the standards, including regulation and inspection, at this time. Mr Moloney was welcoming the publication of the new standards by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).

He pointed out that “progressive implementation” of the standards would be commenced on a non-statutory basis in all publicly-funded facilities in order to maintain the drive for improving the quality and safety of services.