Irish Patients Association

Irish Patients’ Association – Submission to COVID-19 Evaluation

The Irish Patients’ Association welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the COVID-19 Evaluation and has agreed to meet with the Chair on 3 March 2026, which will constitute the Association’s primary submission.

The Irish Patients’ Association is an independent, non-membership, cross-sectoral patient and health service user advocacy organisation operating across Ireland’s health and social care system. The Association engages directly with patients, families and carers navigating healthcare access and identifies recurring system-level issues arising from patient experience.

During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022), the Association maintained ongoing engagement with individuals experiencing disruption to healthcare access, delays in care, changes in service delivery and communication challenges arising from emergency public health measures.

From the Association’s perspective, structured engagement with independent patient advocacy organisations during the pandemic was limited. While the Irish Patients’ Association participated in stakeholder engagement convened by the Department of Health involving national agencies and representative bodies, patient advocacy perspectives were not systematically incorporated into operational pandemic decision-making despite the direct impact of decisions on patients and families.

At this engagement, the Association raised the absence of a clearly articulated national pandemic ethics framework to guide decision-making affecting patients and the public. Ethical advisory arrangements were subsequently formalised through the establishment of the NPHET Pandemic Ethics Advisory Group, in which Irish Patients’ Association Director Stephen McMahon was invited to participate.

The Association would be pleased to provide any supplementary information following engagement with the Evaluation Chair if requested.