Ensuring high quality health and social care for our older population: residential care in Ireland as a case example

Southern Ireland faces similar challenges to the rest of Europe in that it has a rapidly increasing older population, seemingly infinite demand for health and social care and growing financial pressures. Against such a background, there are concerns about the quality of care provided for frail older people, especially in long-term care settings. This paper considers some recent policy development in Ireland, with a particular focus on long-term care. It describes the response to a series of inquiries about the quality of care in such environments and the subsequent formation of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). HIQA has just introduced a series of new inspections standards, and these are presented in the article. However, whilst these standards are to be welcomed, it is argued that standards alone will not result in improved quality unless there is also a recognition of the role and value of long-term care as a positive care environment for older people.