IRISH HEALTH SERVICE ACCREDITATION BOARD

There are some accreditation organisations in Ireland, which do not grant official certification, but check that the hospitals fulfil all the rules and regulations given by the Irish government.

One of the major ones is the Irish Health Services Accreditation Board. It has four main tasks:

1. “To operate hospital accreditation programmes and to grant accreditation to hospitals meeting standards set or recognised by the Board;

2. To operate accreditation programmes in respect of such providers of other health services as may, from time to time, be deemed appropriate by the Minister after consultation with the Board, and to grant accreditation to such providers meeting standards set or recognised by the Board;

3. To operate such other schemes aimed at ensuring quality in the provision of health services as may from time to time be deemed, appropriate by the Minister after consultation with the Board;

4. To do other things, which incidental or conducive to carrying out the functions as set out above.”40

One of the sub departments is the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIAQ), being responsible for the improvement of quality, safety, accountability and the best use of resources in the Irish health and social care industry. Overall, both organisations are in charge of checking the compliance of all the rules and regulations in hospitals, rather