Veronica Hanlon, Educationalist, National Quality & Patient Safety, Health Service Executive discusses the QPS Competency Framework.
In January of this year, HSE National Quality and Patient Safety launched the first ever Quality and Patient Safety (QPS) competency framework for the Irish health service. The QPS Competency Navigator is the result of a two year extensive co-design project led by the National Quality and Patient Safety Education team and the IRIS Centre at the UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems.
What is it?
The QPS Competency Navigator is a resource designed to support healthcare students, staff, leaders, and patients identify their quality and patient safety learning needs and help them plan their training and development to support the delivery of quality and safe care. It can also be used by educators to inform quality and patient safety curricula in under-graduate and post-graduate teaching and learning.
How was it developed?
An evidence-based co-design approach was used to develop the framework and this involved the identification, development and refinement of competencies related to quality and patient safety. An initial scoping review of national and international literature informed this work, and a series of co-design workshops were subsequently held to develop the framework. Co-design is a values-based approach that demands collaboration from all relevant stakeholders towards a shared goal. In this project, a co-design panel of more than 80 members was formed, comprising of healthcare staff, patient partners, academics and policymakers.
How does it work?
There are four simple steps to using the QPS Competency Navigator.
Step 1 involves selecting the role category that best describes you. A good place to start is with the ‘Everyone Working in Healthcare’ category which provides key foundational competencies.
Step 2 involves selecting which of the six core topics you would like to explore.
Step 3 allows you to review the competency statements for that topic and select the ones that you feel you need to learn more about.
Step 4 provides a list of suggested learning resources that you can transfer into your professional development plan if you feel they will help you meet your QPS learning and development needs.
How will this help my Professional Development Planning?
All staff are required to develop and maintain up-to-date knowledge, skills and practices to enable them to adapt to changes in healthcare delivery. Personal or professional development planning (PDP) is part of the HSE’s annual Performance Achievement process as well as being a requirement for registration with many professional bodies.
The QPS Competency Navigator can support PDP by helping staff identify their QPS learning needs and the programmes and resources that will support them achieve their learning goals. Many of the resources identified in the QPS Competency Navigator have associated CPD points and these will be hyperlinked to their hosting sites, making the development planning process as easy as possible.
When should I use it?
The QPS Competency Navigator can be used at any time, but is particularly useful during professional development planning. It can also be used for new staff, staff changing roles or students planning to begin their career in healthcare. Also, if you are an educator or learning designer, this resource can be used to inform QPS learning outcomes and assessment criteria.
Where can I find it?
The QPS Competency Navigator is hosted on the National Quality and Patient Safety Website www.hse.ie/nqps and can be viewed online or downloaded. It can also be accessed using the QR Code. The QPS Competency Navigator is an accessible resource which can be easily navigated and includes a combination of text, images and video to provide an interactive learning experience. The interactive design of the resource will allow you to dip in and out of as many different role categories and topics as you wish, making the resource flexible and easy to use.
Companion Tool
The QPS Competency Navigator can be used alongside the annual Prospectus of QPS Education and Learning Programmes which has just been published for 2025 and can also be found on the website www.hse.ie/nqps or by scanning the QR Code.
