New guidelines on collecting important health and social care information have been published by the health safety and quality body HIQA.

According to HIQA, the purpose of the guidelines is to provide current and future data collectors with advice on the best way to collect and use healthcare generated data.

Currently, health data collections range in size from large data collections such as the Natoonal Cancer Registry to smaller patient registries

According to Prof Jane Grimson of HIQA, while there are examples of very good practice in health data collection, a lack of coordination in this area has led to a fragmented health information infrastructure.

The guidelines are available at www.hiqa.ie