ESN Members, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) and the Child and Family Agency (Tusla), have launched a toolkit on the ‘Fundamentals of good communication: How to have effective everyday conversations’.

HIQA is the statutory body responsible for developing national standards and guidance for children’s health and social care services in Ireland. 

Tusla is the dedicated State agency responsible for improving wellbeing and outcomes for children. It is dedicated to supporting and promoting the development, welfare and protection of children, and the effective functioning of families. 

Through their work, both organisations recognised that good communication is an important component of good quality care and further supports on this area would benefit people working in children’s services.

HIQA and Tusla worked in collaboration to co-produce tools to support and enhance communication for Tusla staff in their work with children, families and foster carers. 

Speaking about the toolkit, HIQA’s Director of Health Information and Standards, Rachel Flynn, said:

“Good communication is a key element of national standards developed by HIQA that are focused on the care and support of children.

To support this and to build on current good practice within Tusla, we co-produced a toolkit on the Fundamentals of Good Communication to focus the attention of Tusla staff on the purpose of each communication they have with children, families and foster carers and to make interaction meaningful.

Ger Brophy, Chief Social Worker in Tusla, noted that:

“This toolkit helps to ensure that children, families and foster carers understand what is happening on a day-to-day basis, feel involved in decisions that affect their lives, and have a sense of control regarding their care and support.”

Developed with input from children, families, foster carers and people working in children’s services, the toolkit includes two parts. The first part sets out key questions to help guide everyday communication and the second part is a tool with practical case studies. 

‘Fundamentals of good communication: How to have effective everyday conversations’ can be found on www.hiqa.ie or www.tusla.ie.