Registration is now Open for the SPHeRE Network Online Symposium on

Wednesday 27th May 2026, 1-2 pm, Online

National Care Experience Programme: using data to gain insights and drive improvements in health and social care

with Dr Elaine Meehan

Dr Elaine Meehan is a Programme Manager with the National Care Experience Programme (NCEP), based at the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). The NCEP implements programmes of engagement across several areas of care, including inpatient, maternity, maternity bereavement, end-of-life, nursing home, and mental health. It aims to find out more about people’s experiences of health and social care in order to drive improvements.  Elaine holds a BSc in Public Health and Health Promotion from UCC and a PhD in Health Services Research from the University of Melbourne.

Prior to joining the NCEP, Elaine worked as part of HIQA’s Health Information Quality and Assurance function where she worked on several projects, including the HealthData@IE project to establish health data access body services for Ireland, and the development of the National Standards for Information Management in Health and Social Care. Prior to joining HIQA, Elaine worked in academic roles in UL, UCC and at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia.

In this symposium, Elaine will provide an overview of the National Care Experience Programme and how it strives to use data from its programmes of engagement to gain insights and drive improvements in health and social care in Ireland. She will provide an overview of some key findings from the most recent programmes of engagement that have been undertaken, and discuss the NCEP’s approach going forward to the inclusion of marginalised groups. Elaine will outline the NCEP’s research priorities and provide an overview of how researchers can apply to access the NCEP datasets for secondary use.

Register here