Request for Proposals:

Hospice Friendly Hospitals Programme Evaluation – Governance & Leadership Consultations

Overview

Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF)is a national charity that addresses dying, death and bereavement in Ireland. Officially launched in 2007 as a quality improvement initiative, Hospice Friendly Hospitals(HFH) is a national programme coordinated by IHF and delivered in partnership with the Health Service Executive (HSE) to ensure that compassionate end-of-life, palliative, and bereavement care is central to acute hospitals in Ireland.

HFH is a complex, multicomponent programme that has evolved in response to changing hospital needs, policy developments, and practical realities in acute care settings. As the programme approaches its 20 year milestone in 2027, an evaluation is being carried out, led by the Research & Policy Team at IHF to reflect on its development, contribution, and future direction.

The overarching aim of this evaluation is to develop a comprehensive understanding of how the in-scope, current core activities of the HFH Programme contribute to improving the conditions for compassionate, person-centred end-of-life care for patients and families in acute hospitals. The findings will inform recommendations and support decisions about the future direction, focus, and development of the programme.

A comprehensive evaluation plan has been developed by IHF to address the overarching evaluation aim. This includes multiple complementary strands of data collection involving a range of stakeholder groups, supported by an established evaluation framework, programme logic model, evaluation questions, ethical approval, and study materials. As part of the wider evaluation, qualitative data collection will be undertaken with key HFH stakeholders, including semi-structured interviews with executive and senior hospital leaders and focus group discussions with End-of-Life Care Coordinators and End-of-Life Care Representatives (in hospitals where a coordinator post is not in place). IHF is seeking external support to undertake this component of the evaluation.

Available budget

€10,000 - €15,000

Closing date for receipt of proposals

11.59pm, Sunday, 4th of October 2026

About Irish Hospice Foundation

Irish Hospice Foundation is a national charity that addresses dying, death and bereavement in Ireland. Our vision is an Ireland where people facing end of life or bereavement, and those who care for them, are provided with the care and support that they need. Our mission is to work towards the best end-of-life and bereavement care for all. Our values are integrity, courage, compassion, respect, and dignity.

About Hospice Friendly Hospitals (HFH)

HFH seeks to ensure that compassionate end-of-life, palliative, and bereavement care is central to hospitals in Ireland. HFH adopts a multi-level, multi-systems approach, engaging staff at all levels, from ward to healthcare region and national governance, to build environments, cultures and practices that support high-quality end-of-life care. Through this approach, the programme aims to ensure that patients who have a life-limiting illness or those who die suddenly, and their families have a seamless experience of care in hospital, provided by well-coordinated and well-informed staff​. The aim is delivered through the following objectives:

1. To develop the capacity of acute hospitals to meet the Quality Standards for End-of-Life Carein Hospitals.

2. To ensure that every person with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition can easily access a level of palliative care appropriate to their needs in order to optimise quality of life,

3. To improve hospital culture in relation to all aspects of dying, death, and bereavement.

Purpose of the Commission

Towards the end of 2025, IHF undertook an extensive scoping process to map the current HFH Programme using a programme logic model. This work identified the programme's core activities, associated outcomes, and informed the appropriate boundaries for the current evaluation.

The scoping process identified four core, overarching activity areas within the HFH Programme:

1. Governance and Leadership

2. Training and Education

3. National Network Meetings

4. Improving the Hospital Environment

Following the scoping process, it was agreed that the current evaluation would focus on Governance and Leadership, Training and Education (specifically Final Journeys - Adult and Paediatric), and the National Network Meetings. Governance and Leadership was identified as a cross-cutting activity that supports and influences the delivery of other programme activities, making it a particularly important focus within the evaluation.

It is important to note that IHF does not have a governance or management role within participating hospitals. Rather, through the HFH Programme, IHF seeks to support the governance and leadership structures relating to end-of-life care through the provision of guidance, tools, resources, reporting templates, and other supports. Responsibility for the implementation, oversight, and reporting of HFH-related activities remains with individual hospitals.

As part of the wider evaluation of the HFH programme, IHF is seeking external support to undertake a qualitative workstream focused on Governance and Leadership. The purpose of this commission is to provide an independent perspective on this aspect of the programme through consultations with key stakeholders.

Specifically, the commissioned work will explore stakeholder perspectives on the extent to which HFH has become embedded and sustained within hospital systems and governance structures, as well as its contribution to strengthening the culture of end-of-life care within acute hospitals. Findings from this work will contribute to the broader HFH evaluation being led by the IHF Research and Policy Team.

Existing Evaluation Plan

To support consistency across the evaluation, IHF has developed the overarching evaluation plan and supporting study materials, including interview guides, focus group discussion guides, participant information sheets, consent forms and short demographic questionnaires to capture participant characteristics and support the description of the study sample. The wider HFH evaluation (including this qualitative workstream) has received full ethical approval from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Research Ethics Committee (REC202605031).

Tenderers will be expected to work within this established evaluation plan while bringing an independent perspective to data collection, analysis and interpretation. Any revisions or amendments required following appointment will be agreed with IHF and submitted through the appropriate ethics approval processes.

Scope of the work

This commissioned work forms one workstream of a wider evaluation being led by IHF’s Research and Policy Team. The successful tenderer will work collaboratively with IHF’s Research and Policy Team throughout the project, while maintaining independence in the conduct of interviews, focus groups, analysis, and interpretation of findings.

The successful tenderer will be required to:

• Conduct semi-structured interviews with senior hospital leaders across participating HFH hospitals.

• Facilitate focus group discussions with End-of-Life Care Coordinators and/or End-of-Life Care Representatives (in hospitals where a coordinator post is not in place).

• Analyse qualitative data collected through interviews and focus groups.

• Prepare a report outlining key findings, conclusions and recommendations.

• Work collaboratively with the Research and Policy Team to ensure alignment with the wider HFH evaluation.

The commissioned work will contribute to addressing the following evaluation questions:

• How well are hospitals implementing HFH?

• To what extent has HFH become embedded and sustained within hospital systems, governance structures and routine practices?

• What supports or hinders HFH at system level?

• Does HFH contribute to improving the culture of end-of-life care within hospitals?

• How effectively do hospitals use End-of-Life policies, guidance and practical resources (including the End-of-Life symbol)?

Senior Leadership Interviews

The successful tenderer will coordinate and conduct semi-structured interviews with executive and senior leaders across participating HFH hospitals. Today, 46 hospitals across Ireland are engaged in HFH, working to improve end-of-life care in their hospital. The sampling approach should ensure representation across:

• All six HSE Health Regions.

• Voluntary and HSE-managed hospitals.

• A range of hospital types, including Model 2, Model 3 and Model 4 hospitals, together with specialist hospitals where relevant.

• Diverse leadership and governance perspectives.

Participants should include a range of roles such as:

• Hospital CEOs/General Managers

• Directors of Nursing and/or Assistant Directors of Nursing

• Chief Clinical Directors

• Consultants (including, but not limited to Specialist Palliative Care Consultants)

• Representatives from Quality and Patient Safety,

• Other stakeholders with responsibility for, or influence over, end-of-life care governance and implementation

In addition, representation from End-of-Life Care Committee Chairs should be sought, recognising their central role in overseeing and supporting HFH implementation. Depending on local governance structures, these individuals may fall within one of the leadership roles listed above.

Finally, recognising that the HFH Programme seeks to influence organisational culture, tenderers should also consider the value of including perspectives from professional groups beyond traditional leadership structures where appropriate, including allied health professionals, catering staff, portering services, security personnel, and other staff involved in the delivery of compassionate end-of-life care.

The final sample will be agreed with IHF's Research and Policy Team and should prioritise breadth and diversity of perspectives rather than achievement of a predetermined number of interviews or focus groups. The final sample will ultimately be guided by the need to achieve sufficient representation across hospital types, organisational contexts and leadership perspectives, as well as considerations of data sufficiency. The emphasis should be on exploring key themes in adequate depth rather than achieving a fixed number of interviews. Nevertheless, it is anticipated that, for this, approximately 15-20 semi-structured interviews may be needed. This estimate is informed by the structure of the six HSE Health Regions and the intention to secure representation across a range of leadership roles listed above.

Tenderers are invited to also propose an appropriate sample size and composition within their submission to support their budgeting and resource planning, and to outline whether data collection will be conducted online, in person, or through a blended approach. While it is anticipated that the majority of interviews will be conducted online, tenderers are invited to outline their proposed approach to data collection, including the use of online, in-person, or blended methods. Where appropriate, the successful tenderer should be prepared to undertake in-person engagement to support participation or meet the needs of specific stakeholder groups.

End-of-Life Care Coordinator Discussions

The successful tenderer will coordinate and facilitate focus group discussions with End-of-Life Care Coordinators and End-of-Life Care Representatives.

At present, there are 21 End-of-Life Care Coordinators. In hospitals where a dedicated coordinator role is not in place, End-of-Life Care Representatives and/or relevant End-of-Life Care Committee members will be invited to participate. Participants may include:

• Representation across all six HSE Health Regions.

• Representation from hospitals with and without dedicated End-of-life Care Coordinator posts.

• Representation from varying hospital types and organisational contexts (as noted above in Senior Leadership Interviews)

• A range of experiences and levels of engagement with the HFH Programme.

The final sample will be agreed with IHF’s Research and Policy Team and should prioritise breadth and diversity of perspectives rather than achievement of a predetermined number of interviews or focus groups. However, it is anticipated that approximately 6-10 focus groups may be conducted, with 4-6 participants per group. Tenderers are invited to propose an appropriate approach to focus group composition and numbers within their submission to support budgeting and resource planning. The final sample will be guided by the need to ensure representation across all six HSE Health Regions, hospitals with and without dedicated End-of-life Care Coordinator posts, different hospital types and organisational contexts.

While it is anticipated that the majority of group discussions will be conducted online, tenderers are invited to outline their proposed approach to data collection, including the use of online, in-person, or blended methods. Where appropriate, the successful tenderer should be prepared to undertake in-person engagement to support participation or meet the needs of specific stakeholder groups.

Recruitment considerations

IHF will support recruitment through participant identification and initial contact with prospective participants. While the final sample composition for both interviews and focus group discussions will be agreed with IHF's Research and Policy Team, participant-level information will not be shared with the IHF HFH Programme Team beyond what is operationally necessary to facilitate recruitment and coordination, in order to maintain confidentiality and support the independence of the evaluation.

The IHF HFH Programme Team has informed participating hospitals of the evaluation and may support introductory communications where required. However, the HFH Programme Team will not be involved in participant selection, data collection, analysis, interpretation of findings, or have access to identifiable participant data.

Following initial introductions by IHF, the successful tenderer will be responsible for scheduling and managing interviews and focus group discussions, including all subsequent communication with participants.

Analysis and Reporting

The successful tenderer will be responsible for:

1. Audio transcription of interviews and focus groups.

2. Data management using appropriate qualitative analysis software (e.g. NVivo or equivalent).

3. Qualitative analysis of interview and focus group data.

4. Descriptive analysis of participant demographic data

5. Production of a report with key findings, conclusions and recommendations.

The successful tender will work independently in the day-to-day delivery of the commissioned work while collaborating closely with IHF’s Research and Policy Team at agreed milestones. IHF’s Research and Policy Team will provide oversight and strategic input to ensure alignment with the wider HFH evaluation plan, while maintaining the independence of data collection, analysis, and interpretation.

Additional considerations:

Data sharing

1. IHF's Research and Policy Team will remain the data controller for all evaluation data. As such, the team will have access to all materials associated with this commissioned work. To maintain the independence and integrity of the evaluation, participant-level information will not be shared with the IHF HFH Programme Team beyond what is operationally necessary to facilitate recruitment and coordination.

2. All evaluation data must be stored securely on IHF-approved systems and managed in accordance with IHF data protection policies and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements. Access to identifiable data will be restricted to authorised personnel only, namely the successful tenderers and members of the IHF Research and Policy Team with responsibility for the evaluation.

Dissemination

1. IHF is committed to recognising the contributions of all individuals involved in this evaluation. Authorship will follow the criteria set out by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). All contributors who meet these criteria will be appropriately credited in any dissemination activities.

2. The final report and all associated outputs will remain the property of IHF. IHF reserves the right to develop additional outputs arising from the findings of this work, including reports, presentations, summaries, publications, communications materials, and other dissemination products. Such outputs may be edited or adapted to align with IHF's style, formatting, communication, and strategic requirements and may be used for internal and external purposes.

3. IHF is committed to sharing its research in both academic and non-academic formats to reach a range of expert and non-expert audiences. IHF will retain rights to all dissemination activities, including internal and external publications, presentations and other forms of knowledge sharing. Findings from this research may also contribute to external publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles, depending on scope and relevance.

   • IHF encourages and supports the development of peer-reviewed journal articles to publish the work we do and commission. We are also keen to be part of that process when possible and collaborate in such publications. With this in mind, we apply the authorship guidelines as stated above, to make sure that, if we are co-authors, this is done in a meaningful and fair way.

Key Deliverables

1. Final report including an abstract, brief contextual introduction/background, aims/objectives, methods, results/findings, discussion (including contribution to policy and practice) and suggested recommendations.

2. Executive summary document, aimed at a non-expert audience, outlining main findings and most relevant messages/learning from the study with a short contextual background and overview of the methods used.

3. Final presentation to relevant members of the appointed team in IHF.

4. Provision of all data management and analysis files developed as part of the commissioned work, including qualitative analysis files (e.g. NVivo or equivalent) and descriptive statistical datasets and outputs (e.g. SPSS, Excel, or equivalent), together with any associated codebooks, frameworks, or documentation required to interpret the data.

Tender proposals must include:

1. Project plan and timetable, listing key milestones (for reporting progress on the key stages of the evaluation) and proposed dates for meeting these

2. Sampling and recruitment considerations (including how representation will be achieved across HSE Health Regions, hospital types, and stakeholder groups)

3. Methods and analytical approach, including:

   • Proposed approach to conducting semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions.

   • Transcription arrangements.

   • Proposed qualitative data analysis methods.

   • Data management processes and software to be used (e.g. NVivo or equivalent).

Please note that semi-structured interview guides, focus group discussion guides, participant information sheets, consent forms and demographic questionnaires have already been developed by IHF and approved through the study ethics process. While we welcome discussion and a collaborative approach on these, substantial redesign of the methodology is not required as part of this commission.

1. Detailed budget breakdown (inclusive of VAT[1]), including staff time and all other associated expenses

2. Proposed allocation of staff time and roles, including identification of key personnel who will be involved in delivering the work.

3. Identification of any conflicts of interest

4. Description of relevant expertise and prior experience of team involved

Tenderers should demonstrate an understanding of the Irish acute healthcare system and its governance structures or provide evidence of comparable experience and the ability to rapidly acquire the necessary contextual knowledge.

1. Examples of similar work undertaken, where relevant

2. Contact details for two referees, that IHF can contact who have engaged with you for similar/ related work

Budget

The budget available for this work package is in the range of €10,000-€15,000 and must include VAT[1]and other associated expenses.

Tenderers should allow for reasonable contingencies and recognise that timelines may be subject to change due to recruitment, participant availability, or other unforeseen circumstances.

Proposed budgets should reflect the successful completion of the commissioned work and delivery of all agreed key deliverables outlined above, regardless of any changes to the project timeline or whether data collection is conducted online, in person, or through a combination of both approaches.

In developing their budget, tenderers should consider the need to achieve appropriate representation across stakeholder groups, hospital types, and HSE Health Regions, including the completion of a sufficient number of interviews and focus group discussions to meet the objectives of the commission.

Assessment criteria

In line with IHF procedures, applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Quality of proposed approach and methodology

• Expertise and experience of the proposed project team, including experience working with health, NGO, or charitable sector organisations, and in the evaluation of programmes and services to inform policy and practice

• Relevance of the team's expertise and knowledge in relation to dying, death and bereavement, palliative care, and the Irish acute healthcare system

• Experience of undertaking similar research, evaluation, or consultation work

• Overall quality of the proposal

• Cost of the work

Please note that incomplete proposals will not be considered.

Weighting

Proposed Approach, including project management arrangements and ability to meet the required timelines** - 30%

Relevant Expertise and Experience - 50%

Costing and value for money - 20%

**Particular consideration will be given to the proposed timeline for completion of the work and the tenderer's ability to deliver the project within the required timeframe.

Timeframe

• The closing date for receipt of tender proposals is 04 October 2026

• Shortlisted candidates will be notified by 09 October 2026 with interviews held online week commencing 12 October 2026

• It is envisaged that this work will commence in late October 2026 and the final report will be delivered by the early February 2027.

For further information

Please contact the Research and Policy Team – research@hospicefoundation.ieor Lisa Jones, Monitoring and Evaluation Lead, on 01 679 3195 for further information or if you have any queries in relation to this tender proposal.

Submitting a tender proposal

To submit a proposal to undertake this work please email your proposal to the Research and Policy Team – research@hospicefoundation.ieby 04 October 2026

[1]Tenderers should include VAT considerations within their proposed budget, including where the tenderer is based outside Ireland.