HIQA is developing Overarching National Standards for the Care and Support of Children using Health and Social Care Services.
HIQA recognises the importance of increasing the quality and safety of care and support for all children when they are using health and social care services provided by statutory agencies, as well as by private and voluntary service providers. These services include GPs, primary care services, hospitals, child protection and welfare services, children’s residential centres, services for children with disabilities, and mental health services. These overarching national standards have the potential to improve the experience of all children using health and social care services, by promoting clarity, consistency and continuity within and between services, and to focus services on the child first, rather than on the individual service needs. These standards, written from the perspective of a child, will help health and social care services to plan for and deliver high quality child-centred services.
The development of overarching national standards also provides HIQA with an opportunity to create a framework for the development of more specific standards or guidance that describe in more detail how services can care for and support children in a particular context, if required.