Who we are

RQIA is the independent body responsible for monitoring and inspecting the availability and quality of health and social care services in Northern Ireland, and encouraging improvements in the quality of those services.

RQIA's main functions are:

• to inspect the quality of services provided by Health and Social Care Services (HSC) bodies in Northern Ireland through reviews of clinical and social care governance arrangements within these bodies;
• to regulate (register and inspect) a wide range of services delivered by HSC bodies and by the independent sector. The regulation of services is based on new minimum care standards to ensure that service users know what quality of services they can expect to receive, and service providers have a benchmark against which to measure their quality; and
• with the transfer of duties of the Mental Health Commission to RQIA under the Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (NI) 2009, we undertake a range of responsibilities for people with a mental illness and those with a learning disability.  These include: preventing ill treatment; remedying any deficiency in care or treatment; terminating improper detention in a hospital or guardianship; and preventing or redressing loss or damage to a patient's property.