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  • Safety and quality

    Policy and Guidance for Improving the Safety and Quality of Health and Social Care Services including best practice guidance, service frameworks, regulation and Q2020

    contents

    Serious Adverse Incidents

    A Serious Adverse Incident (SAI) is defined as any event or circumstance that led or could have led to unintended or unexpected harm, loss or damage.

    Estates and Facilities

    This area provides relevant policy information and best practice guidance related to the design, management and operation of the healthcare estate including engineering services and specialist systems.

    • Information for Construction Health Projects Suppliers
    • Health Estates: Sample Projects
    • Estates and Facilities Publications

    Personal and Public Involvement (PPI)

    Health and Social Care organisations have a statutory duty to involve the public and consult them in relation to their health and social care. Personal and Public Involvement (PPI) is the term used to describe the concept of involving ordinary people and local communities in the planning, commissioning, delivery and evaluation of the health and social care services they receive.

    Safety and quality statistics

    Presents information on patients' safety and patient experience. Patients safety includes complaints and clinical/social care negligence cases.

    • Patient safety statistics

    Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)

    The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) is an independent organisation established in 2001, as part of the Government's strategy to improve social care provision and practice. The Department of Health (DoH) and SCIE have a service level agreement which defines the objectives of the funding provided by the DoH to SCIE.

    • DoH NISCC Sponsorship Officer

    Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority

    The Department of Health (DoH) is the sponsor department for the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA). The RQIA is an independent body responsible for monitoring and inspecting the availability and quality of health and social care services in Northern Ireland, and encouraging improvements in the quality of those services.

    Quality 2020

    The Quality Strategy 2020 is a 10 Year strategy designed to protect and improve quality in health and social care in Northern Ireland.

    Health and social care complaints

    Responsibility for dealing with complaints about health and social care services in Northern Ireland is placed with the provider of the service. The following section provides information for health and social care professionals and the general public on matters relating to health and social care complaints.

    Safety and quality standards circulars

    Safety quality and standards circulars

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care.

    • NICE clinical guidelines
    • NICE technology appraisals
    • NICE Guidelines

    Standards for safety and quality

    The Department produces standards for health and social care across a wide range of areas and for a broad spectrum of activities. These include high level governance standards for the delivery of services “The Quality Standards for Health and Social Care”, standards for regulated care services, standards for specific services and activities, and standards for the delivery of services to specific service user groups. The common aim in producing these standards is to facilitate the delivery of safe, quality services.

    • Quality standards for health and social care
    • Care standards

    Safety and quality standards service frameworks

    Service Frameworks are an important element in a standards driven system for improving health and social care planning, commissioning and delivery - they are being developed for key areas of health and social care.

    Safety and quality standards reviews and inquiries

    • Hyponatraemia Inquiry
    • Human Organs Inquiry
    • Lewis inquiry

    NICE - Endorsed Technology Appraisals 2025/2026

    It is important to note that the advice contained within the guidance does not override or replace the individual responsibility of health professionals to make appropriate decisions in the circumstances of their individual patients, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer. This would, for example, include situations where individual patients have other conditions or complications that need to be taken into account in determining whether the NICE guidance is fully appropriate in their case.

    Related to Safety and quality

    Most recent publications

    • Endorsed NICE Clinical Guidelines 2025/2026

      Published 6 June 2025
    • Endorsed NICE Clinical Guidelines 2024/2025

      Published 24 January 2025
    See all publications in this topic

    Most recent consultations

    • NICE Equality Consultation iro NICE Clinical Guideline NG249 - Falls: assessment and prevention in older people and in people 50 and over at higher risk

      Published 8 May 2025 Closes 17 June 2025
    • Framework for Learning and Improvement from Patient Safety Incidents Consultation

      Published 10 March 2025 Closes 20 June 2025
    See all consultations in this topic

    Most recent news items

    • Nesbitt commends emergency response to gorse fires

      Published 6 April 2025
    • DoH responds to Expert Review of Records of Deceased Patients of Dr Watt

      Published 29 November 2022
    See all news in this topic

    Access to information

    How to request information from the Department of Health including Freedom of Information, information about yourself and the type of information we commit to publish on a regular basis.

    Find out more about accessing Department of Health information

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