The HSE’s vision is for a healthier Ireland, with a high-quality health service valued by all.
Our mission
The HSE’s mission is to ensure that people in Ireland:
- are supported by health and social care services
- can get safe, compassionate and quality care when they need it
- can be confident that we make the most effective use of our resources to deliver the best health outcomes and value
Our mission is supported every day by our core values. These shape our attitudes and behaviour towards our colleagues and the people who use our services.
The HSE’s values are:
- care
- compassion
- trust
- learning
These influence everything we do, from dealing with patients to actions at the executive and Board level.
The HSE encourages a culture where all staff live by these values every day, as they interact and deal with colleagues and members of the public.
Our values in practice
Looking at each value in more detail shows how it’s put into practice every day.
Care
Everyone at the HSE strives to:
- provide care of the highest quality
- deliver evidence-based best practice
- listen to the views and opinions of our patients and the people who use our services through our patient surveys, and consider them when making plans for the future
Compassion
As an organisation, we commit to:
- show respect, kindness, consideration and empathy in our communication and interaction with people
- be courteous and open in our communication with people and recognise their fundamental worth
- provide services with dignity and demonstrate professionalism at all times
Trust
It’s our aim that we will:
- provide services in which people have trust and confidence
- be open and transparent in how we provide services
- show honesty, integrity, consistency and accountability in our decisions and actions
Learning
Every day we will:
- foster learning, innovation and creativity
- support and encourage our workforce to achieve their full potential
- acknowledge when something is wrong, apologise for it, take corrective action and learn from it
Improving the HSE
Along with our patient surveys, in which patients provide feedback on their experience of our services, we're supporting our vision for continuous improvement across our services.
This includes the progress made through Sláintecare, our 10-year programme to transform healthcare in Ireland.
We're also changing the way in which health services and care services work together, by creating 6 new health regions, with each one responsible for providing both hospital and community care.
How the HSE ensures it is run ethically
The HSE Board has a key role in setting our ethical tone, both in its own actions and in overseeing the performance management and accountability of the HSE and its Chief Executive Officer.
As a public body, we're subject to the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 and the Standards in Public Office Act 2001. We have policies in place to ensure that the HSE as a whole is run ethically.
Every HSE employee completes an induction process that includes an introduction to our Code of Conduct. Additionally, we have a Code of Standards and Behaviour that provides the framework within which all employees work. It covers all the principles that should govern employee behaviour and the values that we believe in.
All employees at Grade VIII or above must submit an annual statement of their ‘registrable interests’, or confirm that they don’t have any. Employees are expected to disclose these interests because they could influence them in performing their duties at the HSE.
This includes interests held by the employee's spouse (or civil partner), their child, or a child of their spouse.
Every year, the HSE compiles a report for the Standards in Public Office Commission, showing our compliance with these Acts for the year.
There is more information about disclosure, including what is excluded from it, in the HSE Code of Governance, which also includes full details of the hospitality policy.
Making sure we’re accessible and inclusive
As part of the HSE’s commitment to a high-quality health service for all, we have published a statement on diversity, equality and inclusion.
We also provide details of the accessibility of all of our services, including the content on this website.
Accessibility of HSE services and commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion