Translating national standards into practice: Supporting social care professionals

The Health Information and Quality Authority [HIQA] was established in 2007 to drive high quality and safe care for people using health and social care services in Ireland. One of the functions of HIQA is to set national standards for services. When developing standards HIQA conducts a thorough review of evidence and extensively engages stakeholders through focus groups, advisory groups and public consultations. To validate the robustness of its processes HIQA distributed a survey to key stakeholders with experience of the standards development processes in 2018. It also undertook an international review of how other organisations approach the development of standards for health and social care services and support their implementation. The survey was completed by 54 stakeholders and 13 organisations were included in the international review. Analysis of the data identified three main themes used internationally to translate national standards into practice improve understanding and increase implementation. There are early engagement with stakeholders; resources and guidance to support implementation and effective dissemination, communication and promotion of both the standards and related resources across services. In response to these findings HIQA is taking steps to help people implement the national standards and to improve the experience and outcomes of people using services.