New Directions

In recent years the Health Service Executive (HSE) has sought to reform adult day services away from centred based models of support towards more individualised and outcome-focussed supports. The reform process is called New Directions and is based on the New Directions - Report of the National Working Group for the review of HSE Funded Adult Day Services published in 2012. It sets out 12 supports that should be available to those using day services seeking to make these services more individualised and outcome-focused.

The National Disability Authority has supported the HSE’s work on New Directions in a number of ways.

On this page

A National Framework for Person Centred Planning in Services for Persons with a Disability

We supported the HSE to conduct research and develop a national framework for person-centred planning, under the Transforming Lives programme.

Following the development of the framework, the HSE conducted a Demonstration Project with five provider organisations in 2019. We were part of the advisory group for the Demonstration Project.

The national framework is intended to inform and guide how person-centred planning is implemented across services for persons with a disability in Ireland.

The framework sets out to give a clear picture of what good practice looks like and to support individuals, teams and organisations to identify areas for improvement.

The Person-Centred Planning Framework and further information are available on the HSE website.

New Directions Interim Standards

We supported the HSE to developed the New Directions Interim Standards for New Directions, Services and Supports for Adults with Disabilities.

We also supported the development of the Evaluation, Action and Service Improvement (EASI) tool by which service providers can assess the quality of their service provision against the Interim Standards through capturing the views of service users, staff and management.

Rehabilitative Training and School Leavers Profiling

For several years we supported the HSE in various aspects of the profiling process for Rehabilitative Training and School Leavers applying for adult day service placements.

We worked with HSE staff over several years to guide on a standardised process, making it transparent and fair across the country and across disability groups.

This included written guidance, training videos, group training and individual tuition of local area profilers, as well as quality assurance reviews of the profiling returns.

We also conducted reviews of the local processes and provided relevant and timely feedback to the HSE at the local and national levels.

The NDA also provided advice on, and supported a transition to, online profiling processes arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our engagement with the HSE on this project ended in 2021.