Office of the Chief Medical Officer

The Office of the Chief Medical Officer is responsible for:

• providing strategic leadership and evidence based analysis and expert medical and bioethical advice to the department, government, broader health system and regulatory and professional bodies
• promoting policy and planning with regard to patient safety and quality in health care through the development of quality assured national clinical guidelines, audit and clinical practice guidance
• leading the development and co-ordination of the implementation of Healthy Ireland: A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013-2025, across society, relevant agencies and departments
• developing policy and legislation to address communicable diseases, obesity, food safety, environmental health issues, non-communicable diseases, smoking and alcohol misuse

The National Patient Safety Office is part of the Office of the Chief Medical Officer. It focuses on leading key patient safety policy initiatives.

It aims to ensure safe health services by:

• harnessing good data and supporting legislation
• using patient safety surveillance information to inform and direct patient safety improvements for hospital and community care
• developing a model for a new national patient advocacy service
• extending the national clinical effectiveness framework to promote evidence based healthcare

The National Patient Safety Office hosts an annual conference to promote synergy between the focus on safe care using evidence in practice to improve quality through clinical guidelines, audit and focused patient safety initiatives.

The conference aims to provide a platform for discussion and presentation of key patient safety issues.