Eight healthcare services must improve to ensure people are not at risk of harm, HIQA finds

Eva Osborne

Eight out of 10 healthcare services inspected by HIQA needed some degree of improvement to ensure service users were protected from the risk of harm associated with the delivery of healthcare services.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has published 10 inspection reports on compliance in healthcare services with the National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare.

Inspections were conducted between May and September of 2025 at:

• Bantry General Hospital, Cork;
• Blackrock Health Blackrock Clinic, Dublin;
• Bon Secours Hospital Tralee, Kerry;
• Mater Private Network Cork;
• Naas General Hospital, Kildare;
• Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda;
• St Vincent’s Private Hospital, Dublin;
• Tipperary University Hospital, Tipperary;
• Tymon North Unit at Tallaght University Hospital, Dublin;
• UPMC Kildare Hospital, Kildare.

In eight of the 10 services inspected, some degree of improvement was required to ensure service users were protected from the risk of harm associated with the delivery of healthcare services.

Examples of areas that required attention in one or more inspections included improvements in management and oversight arrangements, workforce planning, the physical environment, and the monitoring and evaluation arrangements to support and promote the delivery of high-quality, safe and reliable healthcare services, HIQA said.

Nine of the 10 services inspected required improvements to the physical environment to varying degrees.

In particular, at Naas General Hospital, UPMC Kildare, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda and Tipperary University Hospital, it was found that the significant improvements to infrastructure were required to address risks related to infection prevention and control.

At Bantry General Hospital, inspectors noted improvements had been made since the previous inspection. Inspectors found that the hospital had workforce management arrangements in place to support day-to-day operations to meet service needs.

However, there was an over reliance on agency and contract arrangements at consultant level, and monitoring and risk oversight mechanisms required strengthening.

Availability of beds

In Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and Naas General Hospital, HIQA reported that there continued to be greater demand than availability for inpatient beds, which impacted on the effective management of the emergency department.

While Tipperary University Hospital was compliant with most of the HSE’s targets for patient experience times (PETs) in the emergency department, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Naas General Hospital were not compliant with the majority of the HSE’s targets for PETs.

This resulted in high numbers of admitted patients still being accommodated in the emergency department while waiting for an inpatient bed which affected patients’ privacy and dignity, HIQA said.

Overall, while inspectors found that some progress had been made since HIQA’s last inspections in these services, further action was required to improve the quality and safety of care for patients in the emergency department.

In Tipperary University Hospital, particular gaps were identified in the oversight of medication safety, management of the deteriorating patient, and ensuring the assessed needs of patients were consistently met.

Significant improvements were also required in Tymon North Unit at Tallaght University Hospital, including to governance, oversight and monitoring, and risk management mechanisms to support comprehensive medication safety practices and ensure that the nursing and healthcare staffing ratio was based on a needs or activity analysis.

In addition, HIQA said improvements were required to ensure that the service proactively sought and acted on the patients’ views, preferences and feedback was taken into account to improve the service.

Across all inspections, HIQA reported that services were found to promote a culture of kindness, dignity, and respect.

Inspections found that three services achieved substantial to full compliance in all areas inspected: Blackrock Health Blackrock Clinic, Mater Private Network Cork, and Bon Secours Hospital Tralee.

Good overall levels of compliance were also found in UPMC Kildare and St Vincent’s Private Hospital. Services found to be compliant had demonstrated well-structured oversight, clear lines of accountability, and effective leadership, HIQA said.