Strategy

NOCA works in close collaboration with a broad range of stakeholders, who educate, plan, manage and deliver healthcare in Ireland.

In March 2016, a collective intelligence workshop was facilitated by the Ignite Group for a group of 35 stakeholders. This diverse group included NOCA staff, clinicians, Governance Board members, Hospital Audit Coordinators, HSE Quality Improvement Division (QID), HSE Office of the Chief Information Officer (OoCIO), HSE Healthcare Pricing Office (HPO) and Department of Health (DoH). The aim of this workshop was to identify the strategy’s key priorities:

• Mature and embed the use of NOCA audit information in hospitals so that they can better understand how they are performing, recognise areas of excellence and identify areas they need to improve.
• Use national clinical audit to further develop a culture of quality improvement in the healthcare system.
• Solidify NOCA’s independence from HSE, RCSI and DoH.
• Greater commitment from HSE and DoH to national clinical audit, including long-term funding for the NOCA office.
• Funding required from the HSE to support the collection and use of audit data locally in hospitals.
• Promote the use of national clinical audit data for multiple purposes including research and best practice tariffs.
• Ensure NOCA’s data is of high quality, secure and used appropriately.
• Clear understanding of the standards required of a NOCA audit.
• Develop high-quality IT solutions for data collection and reporting with excellent user interfaces and maximum reliability.

NOCA worked with Corporate Community in the development of the NOCA Strategy 2017-2020. The strategy for the next four years is to consolidate, nurture and build on NOCA’s success to date so that it can expand its audit portfolio, increase awareness and use of national clinical audit data to improve the quality of healthcare, reward best practice, aid research and influence national policies.

The NOCA Strategy 2017 to 2020 is a four-year strategy that defines the aims and objectives of the organisation at a high level. NOCA operates on a calendar year basis, with funding provided annually by the HSE. Accordingly, the strategy will be implemented through four successive annual plans from 2017 to 2020.