FAQs

The National End of Life Survey is a nationwide survey asking bereaved people about the care provided to their relatives and friends in the last months and days of their life. The purpose of the survey is to learn from people’s experiences of end-of-life care in order to improve the services provided both to people who are dying, and to their loved ones.

The National End of Life Survey is part of the National Care Experience Programme — a partnership between the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health.

Individuals who registered the death of a family member or friend that occurred between 1 September and 31 December 2022, were invited to participate in the survey and received a survey pack in the post between March and May 2023.

The National End of Life Survey asked bereaved relatives about the end-of-life care provided to their loved ones in hospitals, hospices, nursing homes and the home. Sudden, maternal and child deaths were not included in the survey, as the care pathways in these circumstances are different.

The survey took place between March and July 2023.

The survey includes questions on pain management, respect and dignity, emotional support, communication with healthcare staff and the provision of information.

All responses to the National End of Life Survey will be anonymised, analysed and combined to produce a report on the quality of care provided at end of life in Ireland. The findings of the survey will be used to introduce improvements at both local and national levels.
You can see the results for 2023 here.

Yes. Your answers are processed in strict confidence and kept separate from your contact details. Anonymised responses are retained solely for analysis; they are not given to commercial entities or used for commercial purposes.

Yes. The National End of Life Survey complies with data protection laws including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018. Your contact details are used for the sole purpose of sending you the survey. Further details can be found here.

Irish Hospice Foundation

The HSE, in partnership with the Irish Hospice Foundation, provides a helpline to support people who have experienced the death of a family member or friend. You can call this Freephone service on 1800 80 70 77 to talk to a bereavement support volunteer or access support through the website www.bereaved.ie. The Freephone service is available from 10am to 1pm, Monday to Friday.

Samaritans

Samaritans provide emotional support for anyone who is struggling to cope or needs someone to listen to them without judgement or pressure. You can contact Samaritans 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on Freephone 116 123 or by emailing jo@samaritans.ie. For more information, please visit www.samaritans.ie .

More information is available on our website yourexperience.ie. You can also ring our Freephone number on 1800 314093 (Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm),  email us at info@yourexperience.ie, or write to us at:

The National End of Life Survey
c/o Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA)
George’s Court, George’s Lane
Dublin 7/D07 E98Y

The National Nursing Home Experience Survey is a new survey of nursing home care in Ireland. The survey asks nursing home residents and their loved ones about their experiences in order to improve the safety and quality of nursing home care.

The National Nursing Home Experience Survey is part of the National Care Experience Programme — a partnership between the Heath Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health.

A selection of nursing homes, representative of the entire population of nursing homes in Ireland, was selected to participate in the survey.

People who lived in participating nursing homes at the time of the survey, and one family member or friend (a designated representative) of each resident, were invited to take part in the survey.

The survey took place between March and May 2022.

The results of the National Nursing Home Experience Survey are published on our website.

You can view the survey questionnaires on our website:

2022 Resident survey questionnaire

2022 Designated Representative survey questionnaire 

All responses to the National Nursing Home Experience Survey will be anonymised, analysed and combined to produce a report on the quality of care provided in Irish nursing homes. The findings of the survey will be used to introduce improvements at both local and national levels.

You can sign up here to be notified when the results are available.

Yes. Your answers will be processed in strict confidence and kept separately from your contact details. Your answers will solely be used to analyse and report on nursing home care. Anonymised data from the National Nursing Home Experience Survey may be used for secondary analysis in the future by health service researchers under agreed conditions. They will not be shared with commercial entities or used for commercial purposes.

Yes. The National Nursing Home Experience Survey complies with data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018. Your contact details will be used for the sole purpose of inviting you to take part in the survey. Further details can be found at www.yourexperience.ie.

More information is available on our nursing home survey section

Freephone
1800 314 093

Email
info@yourexperience.ie

Postal Address
The National Nursing Home Experience Survey
c/o Health Information and Quality Authority
George’s Court
George’s Lane
Dublin 7
D07 E98Y

The National Inpatient Experience Survey is a nationwide survey asking patients about their recent experiences in hospital. The purpose of the survey is to learn from patients’ feedback in order to improve hospital care. Read more about the survey

The National Care Experience Programme runs the survey. The Programme is a partnership between the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health. HIQA, as lead partner, employs a third party data processor to assist with the administration of the survey. Read more about who we are.

Anyone aged 16 and over who spent a minimum of 24 hours in a public hospital and was discharged in May 2022 was asked to complete the survey.

Read more about the survey.

The National Inpatient Experience Survey seeks to find out what changes can be made to improve patients’ experiences in hospital. Even small changes can lead to improved patient safety and wellbeing, while staff report higher levels of job satisfaction. Read more about the National Care Experience Programme. 

The national results and local results of the National Inpatient Experience Survey are published on our website.

The survey offers you the opportunity to tell us about your recent experience in hospital. Your responses will provide us with important information on the standard of services and help us identify where improvements are necessary.

All survey responses are combined to produce reports on patients’ experiences of hospital care in Ireland. National results and local results are made publicly available on this website. The results of previous surveys can also be found under Previous results.

Your contact details were provided by your hospital to enable us to send you the survey. They will be deleted as soon as the survey is complete.

Yes. Your answers will be processed in strict confidence and kept separate from your contact details. Anonymised responses will be retained for additional analysis, including comparisons with future surveys. Anonymised data from the National Inpatient Experience Survey may be analysed in the future by health service researchers under agreed conditions. The data will not be given to commercial entities or used for commercial purposes. Visit our Information Governance page for more details.

Yes. The National Inpatient Experience Survey complies with data protection laws including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Your contact details will be used for the sole purpose of sending you the survey. Information about your medical history will not be obtained. Visit our Information Governance page for more details.

Yes, please do! If you received good quality care in hospital you can use the survey to tell us about your positive experience.

We would love to hear your story and that is why we encourage you to complete the survey yourself. However, please feel free to ask a friend or a family member to help you as long as the answers given are your own.

The survey asks questions about your admission to hospital, the ward environment, your care and treatment, interaction with staff, your discharge from hospital and the impact of COVID-19 on your care. Visit our Survey Model page for a detailed view of the questionnaire.

Participation in the survey is voluntary. While we would love to hear about your experience, it is possible to opt-out of the survey on the website or by calling our Freephone number 1800 314093.

More information can be found on the Inpatient survey section.

Freephone 1800 314093 (Monday –­ Friday, 9am – 5pm)

Email info@yourexperience.ie 

Postal Address 

The National Inpatient Experience Survey
c/o HIQA,

George’s Court, George’s Lane,
Dublin 7, D07 E98Y

The National Maternity Experience Survey is a nationwide survey asking women who have given birth about the maternity care they received. The purpose of the survey is to learn from the experiences of women to improve the safety and quality of Ireland’s maternity services. Read more about the survey.

The National Maternity Experience Survey is part of the National Care Experience Programme — a partnership between the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health. Read more about who we are.

Women aged 16 or over who gave birth in October (or November*) 2019 and had a postal address in the Republic of Ireland were invited to participate in the National Maternity Experience Survey.

*To ensure an adequate sample size, women who gave birth in smaller Irish hospitals in November 2019 were also eligible to participate in the survey. See the full list of hospitals here.

We have developed a separate survey for women who experience a pregnancy loss, a stillbirth or a neonatal death – the National Maternity Bereavement Experience Survey.

The survey asked about women’s experience of care during their pregnancy, during labour and birth, and care after their baby was born.

All responses to the survey have been combined and reported on this website. To see the national report, please click here and to see the individual hospital reports, please see here. You can also find a response for each report, outlining the HSE’s response to the findings of the survey.

Yes. The National Maternity Experience Survey complies with data protection laws including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018. Visit our Information Governance page for more details.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Ireland provides a directory of support services and knowledge for bereaved parents.

More information is available on our Maternity survey section. 

Freephone 1800 314093 (Monday –­ Friday, 9am – 5pm)

Email info@yourexperience.ie 

Postal Address 
The National Maternity Experience Survey

c/o Health Information and Quality Authority
George’s Court
George’s Lane
Dublin 7
D07 E98Y

The National Maternity Experience Survey includes questions on the full pathway of maternity care, from antenatal care, through labour and birth, to postnatal care in the community. As a GP, you may have treated a woman who participated in the survey.

The National Maternity Experience Survey includes questions on the full pathway of maternity care, from antenatal care, through labour and birth, to postnatal care in the community. As a public health nurse, you may have treated a woman who participated in the survey.