Dublin, Ireland
“Safer Better Care”
– Mairin Ryan, Director, HIQA
History and Structure
The Health Information and Quality Authority was established in May 2007. We are an independent Authority reporting to the Minister for Health and Children, with broad ranging functions and powers to drive quality, safety, accountability and the best use of resources in our health and social care services, whether delivered by public, voluntary or private bodies. In setting up Ireland's first Health Technology Assessment function, the Authority is responsible for making sure that the resources in our health are used in a way that ensures the best outcome for the patient or service user.
The Authority's headquarters are in Cork, with a regional office in Dublin.
Mission
The Health Information and Quality Authority is responsible for driving high quality and safe care in Ireland's health and social care services. The work of the Health Technology Assessment function will contribute to this by assessing the clinical and cost effectiveness of the medicines, devices, diagnostics, and other health technologies used across our health system. The outcomes of these assessments will allow us to support decision makers in the health services by providing evidence on the effectiveness (including cost-effectiveness) of new technologies including drugs, devices or health promotion activities.
The Health Technology Assessment function will also work with organisations undertaking similar work in Ireland and internationally. In Ireland, the Authority is working closely with the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics and internationally with the European Network for HTA (EUnetHTA), the International Network of Agencies for HTA (INAHTA), Health Technology Assessment international (HTAi) and the International Information Network on New and Emerging Health Technologies (Euroscan).
How the Health Information and Quality Authority works
The Authority is governed by a board of twelve members, appointed by the Minister for Health and Children. Health technology assessments are carried out subject to board approval, at the request of the Minister, Health Service Executive, patient groups or other stakeholders. An external Programme Advisory Group advises on processes for filtering requests and prioritisation.
Dissemination Activities
Comprehensive dissemination of the results of our work is undertaken to ensure that decision makers and stakeholders benefit from the evidence based information produced in a way that is both timely and relevant. In addition all Health Technology Assessment reports are published and are free to download from the Authority’s website.
Current Projects
Information on past, current and upcoming projects can be obtained from the Authority’s website (www.hiqa.ie).
Completed HTAs include:
- Health Technology Assessment on the Role of Human Papillomavirus Vaccines in Reducing the Risk of Cervical Cancer in Ireland
- Health Technology Assessment (HTA) of a Population-Based Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme in Ireland
The Authority has also published a report on the Evaluation of the use of resources in the national population-based cancer screening programme and associated services.
Future Plans
Having been established in 2007, the Health Information and Quality Authority is a relatively new organisation that in addition to conducting HTA’s is also working to increase HTA capacity and capability nationally, allowing evidence based decision making to contribute to improved quality of healthcare in Ireland.
Other future plans include:
- Continued participation in the international HTA community
- Maintaining strong communication with stakeholders to raise the profile of HTA and the benefits of evidence based decision making in healthcare
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Continuous development of our resources and structures to enable the undertaking of HTA’s in accordance with the highest standards of practice.
Agency Information
Country: Ireland
Description of population served: National
Population served (mil): 4.5
Current HTA budget (mil USD): 1.5 million
Permanent staff: 7
Consultants: variable
Ongoing TA projects: 1
Contact Information
Director: Dr. Mairin Ryan
Contact person: Debra Spillane
Health Information and Quality Authority
George's Court,
George's Lane, Dublin 7, Ireland
Tel: +353 (0) 21 240 9300
Fax: +353 (0) 21 240 9600
Internet: http://www.hiqa.ie
Email: INAHTA@hiqa.ie