Hiqa received more than 2,000 complaints about health and social care last year

The report was published by HIQA. File picture

More than 2,000 people made complaints or raised concerns with watchdog Hiqa about health and social care services last year in hospitals, nursing homes, and disability centres.

In addition, Hiqa received 144 reports from healthcare staff about serious safety issues in various services, its annual report for 2025 shows.

There were three fewer nursing homes in Ireland last year than in 2024, and only 38 more beds were opened during that time, it also showed.

When Hiqa (Health Information and Quality Authority) receives feedback about a service, it then identifies any patterns in problematic behaviour at a centre, the report said.

In all, it received 2,028 unsolicited pieces of feedback from residents or patients, their families or healthcare staff. This is up from 1,769 the year before.

The separate reports on serious incidents are linked to the first full year of the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents) Act, which was signed into law in 2023.

Last year, Hiqa published a report on emergency services across Limerick, Clare and north Tipperary. This was later followed by a pledge from health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to act on the advice. 

The report said Hiqa’s “rigorous and unbiased analysis” supported that decision for improving services.

It also published findings on the use of non-medical devices during surgery at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) and other reviews.

Nursing home data

Nursing home data shows that by the end of last year, there were 545 nursing homes open, down from 548 the year before. Bed numbers registered had increased slightly from 32,370 to 32,408.

Hiqa chief executive Angela Fitzgerald said last year was about progress and supporting improvements in the quality of health and social care services.

“One of our core values is to be a trusted voice for those using services and the wider public,” she said.

She pointed to the work in Limerick and with CHI as "clear examples of where Hiqa’s independence, along with its regulatory and evidence synthesis expertise, has enabled us to address complicated policy or safety issues and provide advice to support complex decisions by Government".

The report also looked at ways Hiqa’s work is to expand, with plans to regulate homecare providers as one example. 

Last year, Hiqa inspected 1,191 residential disability services and 757 nursing homes. It carried out 46 inspections at children’s services and 61 of other healthcare services, including hospital emergency departments.

• Niamh Griffin, Health Correspondent  

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