Press Release: Friday 30 August 2024
Minister for Health announces €2.5 million in research funding to enhance patient safety
Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, today announced a significant investment of €2.5 million over four years in the evidence and research group, the Centre in Ireland for Clinical Evidence Reviews (CICER).
CICER will provide scientific support and best available evidence to underpin national clinical guidelines, aimed at improving patient safety, that are published through the Department of Health’s National Clinical Effectiveness Committee (NCEC).
The €2.5 million investment, awarded by the Health Research Board (HRB) following an open competition, underscores Ireland’s commitment to ensure that the evidence which informs how we deliver healthcare services is up-to-date, unbiased, cost-effective and consistent.
Minister Donnelly, said:
“In an age of disinformation, gathering high-quality, evidence-based information is more important than ever. Clinical Guidelines based on the best available evidence help our healthcare workers provide healthcare that is up-to-date, effective, and consistent.
“Implementing these guidelines can improve health outcomes for patients, reduce variation in practice, and improve the quality of clinical decisions.”
CICER will:
- Conduct systematic reviews of clinical and cost-effectiveness of interventions.
- Estimate the budget impact of implementing guidelines.
- Provide tailored training sessions to guideline development groups.
- Review international clinical guidelines for adaptation to Ireland.
- Assist with the development of evidence-based recommendations for NCEC National Clinical Guidelines.
To-date, the NCEC has published 30 National Clinical Guidelines. This investment marks the second phase of funding for the collaboration between the Department of Health’s NCEC and the HRB. The first phase, running from 2017 to 2024 provided support and evidence that underpinned the publication of National Clinical Guidelines addressing critical patient safety issues including emergency medicine, cancer care, stopping smoking, and infection prevention. These guidelines have significantly contributed to improving health outcomes, reducing practice variation, and enhancing the quality of clinical decisions.
CICER is led by Dr Máirín Ryan of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), and comprises scientific and clinical co-applicants from HIQA, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). The team also includes international experts from the UK, Canada and Australia in areas such as economics, evidence synthesis and guideline development, and close collaboration with the Health Service Executive (HSE) will ensure that the guideline development and dissemination process is informed by the healthcare implementation context in Ireland.
Dr Mairead O’Driscoll, Chief Executive at the HRB added:
“The HRB is delighted to support this initiative, which will continue to provide high-quality, dedicated and timely evidence support for the National Clinical Effectiveness Committee and Guideline Development Groups.
“A key feature in this phase of investment is to enhance the role of CICER within the national and global evidence ecosystem. Through connecting with other centres in the wider evidence support and methodological research community, CICER can enhance coordination, reduce duplication and advance best practice in evidence support for guideline development”.
HIQA’s Director of Health Technology Assessment and CICER principal investigator, Dr Máirín Ryan, said:
“National Clinical Guidelines assist providers and patients in making informed choices about care, driving quality, safety and best use of available resources in healthcare. Since its formation in 2017, CICER has provided rigorous methodological support to over a dozen National Clinical Guidelines, from diabetes care to systems for early detection and management of clinical deterioration in hospitals.
“This new HRB grant will support patient and public involvement and allows us to continue synthesising up-to-date international evidence to inform crucial decisions for patients in Ireland”.
