Hiqa calls for organisation to oversee patient safety

A report by the health watchdog has called for the establishment of an independent national organisation to oversee patient safety — at odds with the Government’s plan for an in-house agency.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) said the fact that no overarching agency existed at national level meant the opportunity for shared learning when mistakes were made was largely lost, with no pooling of risk information to improve patient safety.

Dr Kevin O’Carroll, acting director of health information with Hiqa, said safe and reliable health and social care “depends on access to, and use of, good quality information”.