The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) Draft National Standards for Safer Better Care have important implications as they are designed to be applicable to all healthcare services (excluding mental health) including hospital care, primary care and general practice and it is intended that these standards will provide the basis of a future licensing system.

The IMO supports the introduction of standards to improve patient safety and the quality of healthcare however they are not without significant cost in terms of measurement of deficiencies, implementation of change measures and demonstration of compliance. The financial burden these standards impose should be flagged to the HSE.

The IMO believe that standards should apply to both public and private hospitals simultaneously. The IMO is concerned that national standards will be used as an excuse to close publicly funded hospitals while private hospitals will be afforded a “regulatory holiday”.