About

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) is an independent, government-funded authority established to drive high-quality and safe care for people using health and social care services in Ireland. The legal function was established in 2010 by current head of legal services Richard O’Sullivan, and the team expanded in 2015 when they added a barrister and administrative support. This has allowed them to focus beyond solely providing legal advice and further develop non-core areas such as training and legislative development across the organisation. The HIQA is involved in the drafting of new legislation, something which the legal team influence significantly as well as advising on existing law and running enforcement actions. As a national regulator, HIQA is currently conducting a complete review and re-design of all of its regulatory functions, IT systems and business processes to increase efficiency. The legal team is at the core of this review and O’Sullivan, the head of legal services, leads the largest element of it. O’Sullivan describes this process as a ‘transformational project which will ensure that all regulatory decisions will be even more legally robust, consistent and process-driven’. In addition, all regulatory enforcement processes will be fully IT supported to achieve the maximum efficiency and reduce the regulatory burden on regulated businesses as much as possible. All of this is being supported by a package of guidance and training on everything from gathering evidence to appearing in court. The legal team is developing and proactively driving these improvements which will impact across the entire business. ‘We have always been able to turn our small size to our advantage by being very adaptable and responsive to business needs. We are able to react quickly and fit our legal response to the evolving business needs’, says O’Sullivan. In addition the legal team has developed strong relationships with customers at all levels across the business and are seen as ‘strong and solid advisers’ liaising ‘closely with the team’. The team is able to monitor their business peers’ satisfaction through regular feedback exercises, ensuring that they are delivering the best quality service possible and their excellent reputation is maintained.