Press release
Government appoints chair and agrees terms of reference for evaluation of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic
From Department of the Taoiseach
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of the Taoiseach
Published on
Last updated on
The Government has agreed to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of how the country managed COVID-19.
This will provide an opportunity to learn lessons from our experience dealing with a pandemic.
Today, the Government has agreed the Terms of Reference for an evaluation of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and appointed Professor Anne Scott to oversee the process.
The focus of the evaluation will be on the whole-of-government response to the pandemic and how we might do better and be in a stronger position if another pandemic or other similar type event were to occur.
It will include consideration of the health service response covering hospitals, the community and nursing homes, along with the wider economic and social response, including the impact on education and businesses.
The evaluation will be undertaken by a multi-disciplinary panel with relevant expertise and will be chaired by Professor Anne Scott. The intended outputs are future-focused recommendations which will:
• Strengthen decision-making and transparency
• Assist in assessing and balancing the complexity of potential trade-offs along with the need for speed and agility
• Provide a Framework to ensure democratic processes and civil rights are safeguarded in context of whole of society responses to rapidly moving threats of this scale and duration
There will be an opportunity for submissions from individuals, cohorts or their representatives. It is also intended to have a public consultation element to hear the lived experiences of all society.
ENDS
Notes to editor
Summary of Terms of Reference
Objectives
1. To provide a factual account of the overall strategy and approach to planning for and handling of the pandemic in Ireland covering the period 1 January 2020 to 28 February 2022.
2. To identify lessons learned having regard to health and social care system performance and the wider Government response to managing and mitigating risks.
3. To recommend guiding principles and processes to guide future decision-making in the context of rapidly moving threats of this scale and duration.
Scope
Provide a factual account of the overall strategy and approach to planning for handling of the pandemic including the structures and processes (e.g. Cabinet Committees, NPHET, LEEF, stakeholder engagement) put in place to support whole-of-government decision-making and response.
Identify lessons learned, including what worked well, having regard to:
• The overall performance of the health and social care system; and
• Impacts, both immediate and longer term, on individuals, families and communities of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and the Government’s response to managing and mitigating risks of the disease and competing sectoral policy objectives (including the impact of the range of sectoral, business/economic and personal income supports).
Undertake a module of work to:
1. examine the response to Covid-19 in long-term residential care facilities for older persons, taking particular account of the report of the Expert Panel on Nursing Homes, subsequent implementation progress reports, and any relevant outputs from other documentary analysis and information gathering (including the lived experience of the bereaved families); and
2. provide an overall assessment of learnings as part of their work.
Make recommendations on guiding principles and processes which can:
1. strengthen decision-making and transparency;
2. assist in assessing and balancing the complexity of potential trade-offs and the need to move speedily and with agility in these scenarios; and
3. provide a framework to ensure democratic processes and civil rights are safeguarded in the context of whole-of-society responses to rapidly moving threats of this scale and duration.
Outputs/Deliverables
The Evaluation Panel should submit a final report to the Taoiseach in approx. 12-18 months.
The Evaluation Panel may submit interim reports on specific modules on any matters where evaluation points to immediate policy, system or practice improvements or changes.
Chairperson & Panel
Professor Scott is Professor Emerita University of Galway. Over her career she has held a variety of leadership roles in both Irish and English university sectors including Head of School, Executive Dean, Vice President for Equality and Diversity (University of Galway 2016 – 2021), and Deputy President and Registrar (Dublin City University 2006-2012).
She is an RGN and holds a BA in Philosophy and Psychology from Trinity College, Dublin, MSc from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Glasgow. She has worked as a clinician and academic in Ireland, Scotland, Kenya and England.
Professor Scott has extensive experience and knowledge of the Irish healthcare system.
Professor Scott’s research interests include the philosophy and ethics of health care, judgement and decision-making in clinical practice, and health services research - focusing on the health work force.
Other panel members are in the process of being identified and confirmed.
Government also agreed the panel will not examine clinical decisions made by individual clinicians during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the care of individuals or the implementation of measures in specific locations/settings (save in the module on nursing homes); the specific epidemiology of the COVID-19 virus and its variants; and vaccine efficacy and adverse outcomes are not covered by the scope of the review.