AI Sentiment Analysis in Healthcare: Turning Patient Feedback into Actionable Insights

Healthcare organisations collect more patient feedback than ever before. Surveys, complaints, compliments, online forms, emails, voice recordings and free-text comments provide invaluable insight into patient experience. Yet for many organisations, the real challenge isn't collecting feedback, it's understanding it quickly enough to act.

A single patient comment may praise compassionate nursing care, raise concerns about the food, hospital cleanliness and poor communication during discharge all within the same response. Manually reviewing thousands of comments to identify themes, assign ownership and detect trends is time-consuming and increasingly unsustainable.

This is where artificial intelligence is transforming patient experience management in healthcare.

AI helps organisations analyse unstructured feedback at scale, identify emerging issues earlier and ensure the right teams receive the right information faster.

In this article, we'll explore how AI sentiment analysis and AI-powered insights are helping healthcare organisations move beyond simply collecting patient feedback to using it as a driver of continuous quality improvement.

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Is Moving Beyond Clinical Applications

When people think about artificial intelligence in healthcare, they often picture clinical decision support, diagnostic imaging or predictive analytics.

Yet some of the greatest opportunities for AI lie outside direct clinical care. Quality management and patient experience generate vast amounts of unstructured information that has traditionally required significant manual effort to review and interpret.

Patient feedback is one of the richest and often underused sources of organisational insight. Every comment represents an opportunity to understand what patients value, identify service gaps and improve care. However, without intelligent analysis, valuable insights can remain hidden within thousands of responses. This is where AI-powered insights deliver measurable value.

AI Sentiment Analysis Helps Organisations Understand Patient Experience Faster 

Sentiment analysis within MEG’s patient experience module uses artificial intelligence to determine the emotional tone behind written or spoken feedback.

Instead of simply identifying keywords, modern AI evaluates the context of the entire response to determine whether feedback is:

• Positive

• Negative

• Mixed

• Neutral

For healthcare organisations, this provides an immediate overview of how patients feel about the care they received. Rather than waiting for manual review, quality teams can quickly identify areas where patient experience may be deteriorating and prioritise responses accordingly. MEG enables healthcare organisations to change the categorisation based on their preference.

One Comment Often Contains Multiple Stories

One of the limitations of traditional feedback analysis is treating every response as a single issue. In reality, patients frequently discuss multiple aspects of their experience within one comment.

For example:

"The nurses were fantastic, but I waited nearly two hours for my discharge paperwork and nobody explained the delay."

A manual reviewer might categorise this under "Discharge."

AI can identify multiple themes simultaneously, such as:

• Nursing Care (Positive)

• Communication (Negative)

• Discharge Process (Negative)

• Waiting Times (Negative)

This creates far richer organisational insight while ensuring each issue reaches the appropriate team for review.

AI-Powered Insights Enable Faster Action 

AI-powered insights help organisations:

• Detect recurring themes across thousands of responses

• Identify emerging service issues earlier

• Surface positive patient experiences

• Highlight departments requiring attention

• Prioritise high-impact improvements

• Support evidence-based quality initiatives

Instead of spending hours categorising comments, patient experience teams can focus on improving services.

Breaking Language Barriers with AI

Healthcare organisations serve increasingly diverse populations. Patient feedback may be submitted in multiple languages, making manual review more challenging. Modern AI can analyse sentiment across multiple languages, allowing organisations to understand patient experience regardless of the language used.

For multinational healthcare providers or organisations serving diverse communities, multilingual sentiment analysis provides a more complete picture of patient experience.

How MEG Uses Artificial Intelligence to Improve Patient Experience 

At MEG, we believe artificial intelligence should enhance the work of healthcare professionals. We also believe that healthcare AI should be governed responsibly. MEG is among the first healthcare quality management software providers to achieve ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certification, the world's first international standard for Artificial Intelligence Management Systems (AIMS). This independently verifies that our AI capabilities are developed and managed within a robust framework for governance, risk management, transparency and continuous improvement.

Our Patient Experience module uses AI to help organisations manage growing volumes of patient feedback more efficiently while ensuring valuable insights are not overlooked. MEG's AI capabilities include:

Intelligent Auto-Categorisation

Patient comments often contain multiple topics within a single response. MEG automatically identifies and categorises these themes, helping ensure each issue reaches the most appropriate team without requiring extensive manual review.

Context based AI Sentiment Analysis

MEG analyses feedback to identify whether patient sentiment is positive, negative, mixed or neutral. This provides organisations with an immediate understanding of overall patient experience while helping prioritise responses where attention may be needed most.

Multilingual Sentiment Detection

Patient feedback can be analysed across multiple languages, helping healthcare organisations understand experiences from diverse patient populations.

AI Voice Transcription

Voice notes can be automatically transcribed into text in multiple languages, making spoken feedback searchable, reportable and easier to analyse. Importantly, these AI capabilities support healthcare teams by reducing administrative workload while maintaining human oversight of decisions and follow-up actions.

Learn more: How MEG achieved ISO/IEC 42001 certification for responsible AI in healthcare.

“When we designed the AI capabilities in the Patient Experience module, the goal was never to replace human judgement. It was to remove the bottleneck. Quality teams were spending hours categorising comments before they could even begin acting on them. Now the analysis happens in seconds, and their time goes into actually improving care.”

— Mahmoud Assran (MEG Product Specialist)

AI Delivers Greater Value When Connected to Quality Improvement

Understanding patient feedback is only the first step.

Real improvement happens when insights lead to measurable action.

Within MEG's integrated Quality Management System, patient feedback can trigger wider quality improvement activities, including:

• Patient Complaints Management for formal complaint workflows.

• Action Plan Management to assign, monitor and verify improvement actions.

• Audit & Inspection Management to assess compliance where recurring themes are identified.

• Incident Reporting & Risk Management where patient feedback highlights safety concerns.

• Document Management to review and update policies, procedures or guidance in response to recurring issues.

By connecting patient experience with governance, risk and quality management, organisations can demonstrate that patient feedback directly informs service improvement.

Hospital Incident Reporting: How Modern Healthcare Organisations Turn Safety Events into Lasting Improvement

Patient safety doesn't improve because incidents are reported.

It improves because organisations learn from them, investigate their causes, implement corrective actions that tackle the systemic issues, and then monitor to ensure that the improvements stick.

Unfortunately, this is where many healthcare organisations struggle. Incident reports are often captured in one system, investigations managed elsewhere, actions tracked on spreadsheets and evidence stored across multiple locations. Valuable learning becomes fragmented, accountability is lost and the same risks continue to recur.

Modern healthcare incident reporting should do far more than record adverse events and near misses. It should provide healthcare organisations with a structured way to identify risk, support best practice in investigation of incidents, assign ownership of actions, demonstrate regulatory compliance and be able to track the impact on patient safety metrics.

Hospital Incident Reporting Is About More Than Capturing Events

Hospital incident reporting is the structured process of documenting patient safety events, near misses, adverse events, staff incidents and other situations that could affect the quality or safety of care.

However, effective incident reporting is not measured by the number of reports submitted. It is measured by what happens next. The purpose is not to assign blame but to build organisational learning.

Effective reporting allows healthcare providers to identify trends, investigate root causes, reduce future risk and improve patient outcomes. Organisations with mature reporting cultures treat incidents as opportunities to strengthen systems rather than identify individual fault. This aligns with international patient safety guidance, including WHO recommendations and the NHS Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), which emphasise learning and system improvement over blame.

What is an Incident in Healthcare? 

An incident is any event or circumstance that:

• resulted in harm to a patient

• had the potential to cause harm (near miss)

• affected staff safety

• disrupted clinical operations

• compromised regulatory compliance

• created organisational risk

Examples include:

• Medication errors

• Patient falls

• Pressure injuries

• Equipment failures

• Patient identification errors

• Violence and aggression

• Data breaches

• Clinical documentation errors

• Security incidents

• Occupational injuries

Capturing both adverse events and near misses is essential because near misses often reveal weaknesses before patients are harmed.

Why Incident Reporting Matters in Hospitals 

Healthcare is one of the most complex operational environments in the world. Every day, thousands of clinical decisions, handovers, procedures and communications occur across multiple departments. Even well-designed systems can experience failures. Without structured incident reporting, organisations lose visibility of emerging risks.

An effective incident reporting system enables hospitals to:

• Detect patient safety risks earlier

• Identify recurring themes and trends

• Support root cause analysis

• Meet accreditation and regulatory requirements

• Improve organisational learning

• Strengthen governance

• Increase accountability

• Demonstrate continuous quality improvement

Research and international patient safety guidance consistently highlight incident reporting as a critical component of organisational learning, while also recognising that reporting alone is insufficient unless organisations act on the findings.

Reporting Incidents in Healthcare Isn't Enough 

One of the biggest misconceptions is that reporting an incident improves safety. It doesn't. Reporting simply creates information.

Real improvement happens when organisations:

1. Investigate what happened

2. Understand why it happened

3. Identify root causes

4. Assign corrective actions

5. Monitor progress

6. Verify effectiveness

7. Share organisational learning

This "closed-loop" approach is increasingly expected by regulators and accreditation bodies because it demonstrates that healthcare organisations are learning from incidents rather than simply documenting them. JCI and PSIRF, for example, place strong emphasis on learning, proportionate response and safety improvement following incidents.

Characteristics of an Effective Incident Reporting System in Hospitals

Not all incident reporting systems deliver meaningful improvement. The most effective systems combine usability with governance and analytics.

Key capabilities include:

Simple Reporting

Staff should be able to submit incidents quickly from desktop or mobile devices using intuitive forms.Complicated reporting processes discourage reporting.

Standardised Workflows

Consistent categorisation ensures data quality and makes trend analysis more reliable across departments and sites.

Immediate Notifications

Appropriate stakeholders should automatically receive alerts when serious incidents are reported.

Investigation Management

Investigations should be documented within the same system, including timelines, evidence and findings.

Root Cause Analysis

The system should support structured investigation methodologies rather than relying solely on narrative descriptions.

Action Management

Every recommendation should become a tracked action with:

• ownership

• deadlines

• escalation

• completion monitoring

Analytics and Dashboards

Healthcare leaders need real-time visibility into:

• incident volumes

• severity

• recurring themes

• overdue actions

• departmental performance

• organisational risk

Regulatory Reporting

Evidence should be readily available for inspections, accreditation surveys and governance meetings.

Building a Strong Incident Reporting Culture 

Technology alone cannot create safer healthcare. Organisational culture plays an equally important role.

Hospitals with high reporting rates are not necessarily less safe.

In many cases, they are safer because staff feel confident reporting issues without fear of blame.

High-performing organisations typically:

• encourage near miss reporting

• provide timely feedback to reporters

• communicate lessons learned

• recognise improvement opportunities

• involve frontline staff in solutions

• demonstrate visible leadership commitment

How MEG Helps Hospitals Close the Loop 

At MEG, we believe incident reporting should be the starting point not the end point of continuous improvement.

Our healthcare quality management software connects incident reporting with every stage of the quality improvement process, helping hospitals move from identifying risks to demonstrating measurable outcomes.

With MEG, organisations can:

• Capture incidents from anywhere across the organisation

• Manage investigations and root cause analysis

• Generate corrective action plans

• Track progress within the software

• Monitor overdue actions and accountability

• Identify trends through real-time dashboards

• Produce evidence for inspections and accreditation

• Demonstrate continuous quality improvement

Unlike standalone incident reporting software, MEG integrates incident management with the wider healthcare governance ecosystem.

For example, an incident can trigger:

• an Audit to verify compliance across departments

• an Action Plan to assign, monitor and verify corrective actions

• updates to Policies and Documents to reflect new procedures

• a Patient Experience review where complaints or feedback relate to the same issue

• accreditation evidence showing how risks were identified, addressed and monitored over time

Ready to modernise your hospital incident reporting process? 

Discover how MEG's integrated Healthcare Incident Reporting & Risk Management solution helps hospitals capture incidents, investigate causes, track actions and demonstrate continuous quality improvement.

MEG Achieves ISO 42001 Certification, Joining the Small Group of HealthTech Companies with Responsible AI.

MEG's ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certification, issued by Citation ISO Certification — the international standard for Artificial Intelligence Management Systems. MEG achieved certification with 17 positive observations and zero nonconformances.

As a quality management software provider built exclusively for healthcare organisations, MEG has always believed that technology used in clinical governance, compliance, and patient safety must be held to the highest standard. That belief does not stop at our quality management software - it extends to how we build, govern, and deploy Artificial Intelligence features that power it.

That is why we are proud to announce that MEG has achieved ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certification - the international standard for AI Management Systems. Our audit was completed with 17 positive observations and zero nonconformances, a result that reflects the depth of work our team has put into building responsible AI governance from the ground up.

What ISO 42001 Certification Means for AI Governance in Healthcare

ISO/IEC 42001:2003 is the world's first internationally recognised, certifiable standard for AI management systems. Published in December 2023, it provides a structured framework for organisations that develop, provide, or use AI systems, setting out requirements for how AI should be governed, monitored, and continuously improved.

In practical terms, certification means an independent third party has verified that MEG has the policies, processes, and controls in place to manage AI responsibly across the full lifecycle; from how risks are identified and mitigated, to how decisions made by AI systems are documented, reviewed, and accountable.

The standard addresses some of the most pressing concerns around AI in regulated industries: transparency, bias, ethical use, data governance, and human oversight. It's designed not just as a compliance exercise, but as an operational framework that embeds responsible AI into how an organisation actually works, using the ‘Plan-Do-Check-Act’ methodology familiar from other ISO management system standards.

For healthcare organisations, AI management systems provide a structured approach to governing AI safely and consistently. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in clinical, operational, and quality processes, AI management systems in healthcare help organisations establish clear accountability, manage risks, and demonstrate that AI is being developed and used responsibly. ISO 42001 certification provides an internationally recognised framework for achieving this.

MEG was independently assessed and approved by Citation ISO Certification Limited.

Why AI Management Systems Matter in Healthcare

Healthcare is one of the most AI-sensitive environments in the world. Decisions informed by technology can affect patient safety, clinical outcomes, and organisational accountability. The stakes for getting AI governance wrong are not abstract.

For quality managers, compliance officers, and clinical governance leads, AI governance in healthcare is becoming a practical assurance question. When AI is embedded into operational systems, organisations need confidence that vendors can demonstrate transparency, oversight, risk management, and accountability.

For MEG's customers: quality and compliance teams in hospitals, health systems, and regulated healthcare organisations, the question of whether their software vendor governs AI responsibly is increasingly not a nice-to-have. It is a procurement consideration, a governance question, and in many cases, a trust issue. ISO 42001 certification gives our customers a clear, independently verified answer: Yes! MEG has a structured, audited system in place for responsible AI.

A Rare Distinction

While awareness of ISO/IEC 42001:2003 is growing rapidly, adoption remains limited. As of mid-2026, it is estimated that between 350 and 500 organisations worldwide have achieved this certification. For context, there are thousands of organisations globally holding ISO 27001 (information security) certification.

We are proud to be among this early group and to be one of the few healthtech companies to have achieved it. In a sector where trust is everything, we think that distinction matters.

What ISO 42001 Certification Means for MEG Customers

For existing MEG customers, this certification reinforces what you already know about how we work: with rigour, with transparency, and with your regulatory environment firmly in mind.

For organisations evaluating quality management software, it is a signal worth taking seriously. ISO 42001 certification gives healthcare organisations a clear signal: MEG’s quality management system has been independently assessed against an internationally recognised framework for responsible AI. As AI becomes more deeply embedded in the tools healthcare teams use every day, the governance behind those tools matters as much as the features.

We are committed to maintaining and building on this certification as our AI capabilities grow - and as the regulatory landscape around AI in healthcare continues to evolve.

“At MEG, we have treated AI governance and ethics as enablers of innovation, not obstacles to it, from the outset. By embedding this principle, we have built a strong AI foundation for responsible growth. Achieving ISO 42001 certification validates this approach in practice. This is just the beginning, and we will continue building on this foundation.”

— Guvanch Meredov - Head of Compliance and Certified AI Governance Professional, MEG

FAQ’s

• What is ISO/IEC 42001:2023?

  ISO/IEC 42001:2023 is the world's first international standard for Artificial Intelligence Management Systems (AIMS). It provides organisations with a structured framework for governing, developing, deploying, monitoring, and continually improving AI systems responsibly.

• What does ISO 42001 certification mean?

  ISO 42001 certification means an independent certification body has verified that an organisation has implemented an AI Management System that meets the requirements of ISO/IEC 42001:2023. Certification demonstrates that the organisation has documented policies, governance processes, risk controls, human oversight, and continual improvement practices in place to manage AI responsibly throughout its lifecycle.

• Why is ISO 42001 important in healthcare?

  Healthcare organisations increasingly rely on AI to support quality management, clinical governance, operational efficiency, and decision-making. Because AI can influence patient safety, regulatory compliance, and organisational accountability, robust governance is essential. ISO 42001 provides a recognised framework for managing AI risks while promoting transparency, human oversight, ethical use, and continuous improvement.

• What is an AI Management System (AIMS)?

  An AI Management System (AIMS) is a structured set of policies, processes, responsibilities, and controls that enables an organisation to govern AI consistently and responsibly. Similar to how ISO 27001 manages information security or ISO 9001 manages quality, ISO 42001 helps organisations integrate AI governance into everyday business operations.

• What does it mean to be AI responsible?

  Being AI responsible means designing, deploying, and governing AI in a way that is transparent, accountable, secure, and aligned with ethical and regulatory expectations. Responsible AI goes beyond technology itself, it includes human oversight, risk assessment, data governance, bias mitigation, documentation, monitoring, and continual improvement.

• How should hospitals evaluate AI governance from software vendors?

  Healthcare organisations should ask software vendors how AI is governed, not just what AI features are available. Key questions include:

  • Does the organisation have a documented AI governance framework?

  • How are AI risks identified, assessed, and monitored?

  • What human oversight exists for AI-supported decisions?

  • How are bias, transparency, and accountability addressed?

  • Has the organisation been independently assessed against recognised standards such as ISO/IEC 42001:2023?

• Why should healthcare organisations look for ISO 42001 certified software vendors?

  As AI becomes increasingly embedded in healthcare software, organisations need confidence that vendors have appropriate governance processes in place. ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certification provides independent evidence that a vendor has established structured controls for managing AI responsibly, helping support procurement decisions, regulatory compliance, and organisational trust.

• How is ISO 42001 different from ISO 27001?

  Although both are international ISO management system standards, they address different areas of organisational governance.

  • ISO 27001 focuses on information security management, helping organisations protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.

  • ISO 42001 focuses specifically on AI governance, helping organisations manage the unique risks associated with developing, deploying, and using artificial intelligence.

• Is ISO 42001 mandatory?

  No. ISO/IEC 42001:2023 is a voluntary international standard. However, as AI regulation evolves and organisations place greater emphasis on responsible AI, certification can demonstrate a strong commitment to recognised best practices and provide assurance to customers, regulators, and other stakeholders.

• How does ISO 42001 support compliance with the EU AI Act?

  While ISO 42001 does not guarantee compliance with the EU AI Act or other regulations, it provides organisations with a structured governance framework that supports many of the management, risk, documentation, and accountability practices expected under emerging AI regulations.

Celebrating 10 Years of MEG and the Team Behind the Journey

On 6th May 2016, MEG officially began its journey in Dublin’s Digital Hub (still our home today), with a simple but ambitious mission – to make life easier for frontline healthcare workers, and safer for patients.

Before founding MEG, CEO Kerrill Thornhill, spent more than 10 years building software across different industries, but healthcare always stood out to him, not just because of its complexity, but because of the people working within it. He recognised the opportunity technology had to make a real difference on the frontline.

“There is no more complex environment than healthcare. Building apps and systems for healthcare workers was something I always really loved doing.”

— Kerrill Thornhill, CEO & Founder

As part of our 10-year celebrations, we sat down with some of the original MEG team members, who still work at MEG, to reflect on those early days, the milestones that shaped the company, and where they see MEG heading next. You can see the full interview here:

A Look Back at Some Big Moments Along the Way

2016 – The Early Days of MEG

MEG officially landed some of its very first healthcare customers close to home, including Beaumont Hospital in Ireland and Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in the UK. Looking back 10 years later, we are incredibly proud to still work closely with both organisations today.

The early MEG team remember those years as busy, exciting and full of learning. Kerrill spent countless hours travelling to hospitals across Ireland and the UK, listening to frontline staff, gathering feedback and continuously improving the platform together with the people using it every day.

“We would give hospitals early versions of our app, they would give feedback on how to improve it. There was a lot of back and forward, product iteration and really fast development.”

— Peter Clifford, COO

2017 – Launching Our Very First Audit App

In 2017, MEG launched its Audit App on iOS and Android, helping healthcare teams move away from paper-based auditing and making audits easier, faster and more accessible. Later that year, we were thrilled to see our Audit App win the Net Visionary Award for Best Mobile App for Fast Moving Businesses. For a young healthcare technology company still in its early days, it felt like a huge moment and an exciting sign of what was possible. 

2018 – Building technology around frontline experiences

In 2018, MEG launched the Campus Guide App for St James’s Hospital in Dublin, another exciting step forward in using technology to solve practical everyday healthcare challenges and improve everyday experiences for staff and patients.

 Behind the scenes, the team was also working closely with more and more healthcare organisations, strengthening relationships, listening to frontline feedback and continuing to shape the platform around the real needs of staff and patients.

2019 – A Turning Point in the MEG Journey

2019 became one of the biggest turning points in MEG’s journey. 

That year, MEG joined the NDRC Accelerator Programme, which brought not only funding, but also invaluable guidance and support at a really important stage of growth. 

Through the programme, the team refined MEG’s marketing message, strengthened its go-to-market strategy and, most importantly, found real product-market fit. 

We realised that what we were actually doing was more than digitising audits, it was improving quality and patient safety. That changed everything for us. We shifted our focus, redeveloped our website and built the product specifically around healthcare quality and patient safety. It also helped shape the company’s first investor deck, which later supported investment and the growth of the team that would take MEG to the next stage.

2020 - Expanding into Asia-Pacific

In 2020, the world changed almost overnight as COVID-19 spread rapidly across the globe.

 Healthcare systems came under enormous pressure and frontline healthcare workers faced challenges unlike anything seen before. During this time, healthcare organisations accelerated digital transformation at speed, and the demand for connected quality and governance platforms grew rapidly. 

This period created new opportunities for MEG to support healthcare organisations internationally. During this period  we expanded into Asia-Pacific, marking another major milestone in MEG’s growing global journey.

2021 – Growing across new regions and new teams 

In 2021, MEG continued its global expansion into the Middle East and Latin America 

It was an exciting period of growth, not just geographically, but also as a team. As MEG expanded into new regions, the team also continued growing internationally to better support healthcare organisations across different healthcare systems, languages and cultures.

2022 – Celebrating the Impact Healthcare Teams Achieved with MEG

2022 brought a particularly proud moment for the MEG team, as one of our valued customers, St Vincent’s Private Hospital, won the VTE Award using MEG’s Audit Tool. 

Moments like these have always meant a lot to the team because they reflect something much bigger than software. They represent the real impact healthcare teams can achieve when they have the right tools, support and processes around them.

2023 – More People, More Ideas and More Momentum 

By 2023, MEG continued to grow both as a team and as a platform. 

As more healthcare organisations came on board globally, the team expanded across different regions, bringing together people with a wide range of experience, languages and expertise. 

At the same time, the platform itself continued evolving with new modules, features and functionality added to support the growing quality, patient safety and governance needs. 

“We solve their main problems and we actually grow along the way, along with the customers.”

— Anna Gularska, Technical Sales Support Manager

2024 – Entering the US Market

In 2024, MEG entered the US market, marking a major milestone in our global journey. 

During this time, we began working with DMC Primary Care and Priority Hospital Group, bringing MEG’s end-to-end Quality Management Platform into one of the world’s largest and most complex healthcare markets.

The same year also saw another significant milestone as MEG signed a major contract with M42, a global health-tech powerhouse with more than 20,000 employees and over 450 facilities across 26 countries.

2025 – Celebrating the Diversity Behind MEG

In 2025, MEG reached another proud milestone as the company won the Diversity in Tech Awards. 

By this stage, the team had grown to 65 people representing 31 nationalities and speaking more than 20 languages. 

What started as a small team in Dublin had evolved into a truly international company, bringing together different experiences, cultures and perspectives, all connected by the same shared mission of improving healthcare quality and patient safety. 

2026 – MEG Turned 10!

May, 2026 has been all about celebrating the people, partnerships and milestones that shaped the first 10 years of MEG. One of the proudest moments was sponsoring the IPC Ireland Annual Conference alongside IPCI as both organisations celebrated their 10-year milestones. At the pre-event dinner, Kerrill shared MEG’s journey with a room full of IPC professionals, many of whom had been part of that journey along the way.

To round off the celebrations, some of the MEG crew gathered in Dublin for a celebratory BBQ.

Future with meg

As MEG celebrates its first decade, the future feels bigger than ever. Healthcare continues to evolve quickly, and quality, safety and governance teams are being asked to do more with greater speed, visibility and accountability.

Technology will play an important role in what comes next. Artificial Intelligence is already opening new possibilities, from helping teams identify trends sooner, to reducing administrative work, to making quality insights easier to act on.

But for MEG, innovation only matters if it supports the people at the centre of healthcare. The goal is not technology for its own sake. It is technology that helps frontline teams spend less time on manual processes and more time improving care.

“If you want to go fast, you have to go alone and if you want to go far, you have to go as a team. I think this is where MEG’s future lives. We have to go far as a team.”

— Anna Gularska, Technical Sales Support Manager

With more healthcare organisations, more countries and more innovation ahead, the team is incredibly excited for what comes next.

Thank You For Being Part of This Incredible Journey

Every step of MEG’s journey has been shaped by the people around us. To our customers, partners, team members and everyone who has supported MEG over the last 10 years, thank you for trusting us, challenging us, supporting us and growing alongside us.

Our team in 2016

Our team in 2026

NHS Staff Survey 2025: The Gap Between Reporting Incidents and Taking Action

Each year, the NHS Staff Survey provides the most comprehensive insights into how care is delivered on the front line. With over 700,000 responses in 2025, the survey reflects the staff experience, the realities of patient safety and quality across the system.

This year’s results show continued progress in building a culture where staff feel encouraged to report incidents and raise concerns, but the data also highlights a more persistent challenge – ensuring that what is reported is consistently followed through and leads to meaningful action, in an environment where teams are already stretched.

To understand where the gap lies, let’s look at three key areas highlighted in the survey and how they impact patient safety and improvement.

1. Strong reporting culture, but weak follow-through

According to the NHS Staff Survey 2025:

• 33% of staff have seen incidents that could have harmed patients, yet only 67% say action is taken to prevent them from happening again, and just 61% receive feedback on changes made.

What this means

Patient safety risks are being identified, but not consistently translated into action or learning. Without clear follow-through and feedback, the same types of incidents are more likely to recur, and opportunities to strengthen safety systems are missed.

How MEG helps:

With MEG’s Incident Reporting & Risk Management Software:

• Log incidents at the point of care via mobile or tablet, reducing delays and underreporting

• Standardise reporting with configurable workflows and structured forms, ensuring consistent data capture

• Each incident is automatically linked to action plans, risks, and investigations, ensuring it doesn’t sit in isolation

• Assign, track, and escalate follow-up actions with clear ownership, deadlines, and real-time visibility 

• Automated escalations and alerts ensure overdue actions are flagged and followed up

• Real-time dashboards give visibility into incident trends, action status, and resolution rates

Impact

Clear ownership, visible follow-through, and stronger trust that reporting leads to real change.

2. Patient feedback is collected, but not consistently actioned

According to the NHS Staff Survey 2025

• From 72% in 2021 to 69% in 2025 (-3%), there has been a steady decline in staff who believe organisations act on patient concerns

Source: Patient Safety Learning

What this means

Patient insight is being captured, but not always used to drive improvement. When feedback is not linked to action, organisations miss valuable signals about emerging risks, patient experience gaps, and areas requiring immediate attention.

How MEG helps 

With MEG’s Friends and Family Test (FFT) tool, part of our  Patient Experience software:

• Capture patient feedback across multiple channels, including SMS, QR codes, kiosks, email and web, improving response rates

• Use AI-powered analysis to automatically identify themes, sentiment, and emerging patient safety risks from free-text feedback, delivering actionable insight in real time

• Automatically route feedback to the right teams with instant notifications, ensuring clear ownership, faster response, and timely resolution of concerns

• Connect feedback directly to action plans, incidents, and risk registers within a single system, enabling trackable, measurable improvement

Impact

Patient voice becomes actionable insight, not just collected data, driving continuous service improvement.

3. Patient care is the priority, but resources are stretched

According to the NHS Staff Survey 2025

• 72% say patient care is the top priority, but only 56% feel they have adequate materials, supplies, and equipment to deliver that care

• Only 33% say there are enough staff, and only 47% of staff said that they can meet demands on time at work

What this means

Teams are committed to delivering safe, high-quality care, but limited time and resources make it difficult to act on incidents, feedback, and improvement plans. As a result, actions are delayed, follow-through becomes inconsistent, and improvement efforts struggle to keep pace with day-to-day demands.

How MEG helps

With MEG’s End-to-End Quality Management Platform - your digital extension of the team:

• Capture data at the point of care with a mobile-first platform across incidents, audits, risks, and feedback

• Automate workflows to reduce manual admin and remove reliance on spreadsheets and emails

• Connect incidents, risks, audits, and feedback in one system, feeding directly into action planning

• Provide real-time visibility through centralised dashboards for both frontline teams and leadership

• Enable structured action planning and tracking, ensuring tasks are assigned, monitored, and completed without added burden

Impact

Less admin, faster follow-through, and more capacity for teams to focus on delivering safe, high-quality care.

---

When these gaps persist, the impact is felt across staff experience and patient safety.
❌ Incidents are more likely to be repeated, as underlying risks are not fully addressed
❌ Learning is delayed, with insights not consistently translated into action
❌ Confidence in reporting systems begins to erode

High-performing healthcare teams take a different approach. They move beyond capturing data and focus on connecting it, bringing incidents, risks, audits, and feedback into one system that feeds directly into clear, trackable action plans with defined ownership and real-time visibility. This means issues are not just recorded, but resolved, trends are identified earlier, and teams can act before risks escalate.

👉 If you’re looking to strengthen follow-through and make every insight count, book a 15-minute discovery call to see how MEG can support your team.

From Compliance Burden to Quality Improvement: A Smarter Way to Manage ASCQR Reporting

Making ASCQR Reporting Easier for U.S. Ambulatory Surgical Centres

In the U.S., Ambulatory Surgical Centres (ASCs) are facing increasing expectations regarding quality reporting. The ASC Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program requires facilities to track and report adverse events such as:

• Patient burns (ASC-1)

• Patient falls (ASC-2)

• Wrong-site surgeries (ASC-3)

• Unplanned hospital transfers (ASC-4)

These measures are designed to strengthen transparency and improve patient safety across U.S. ambulatory care.

But for many ASCs, collecting and reporting this data still relies on manual processes—such as paper forms, spreadsheets, or scattered systems. Over time, this can become difficult to manage and may lead to delays, missing information, or extra administrative work for already busy teams.

As reporting expectations continue to evolve, many ASCs are looking for simpler, more reliable ways to manage incident reporting and quality data.

Why ASCQR Reporting Can Be Challenging

ASCQR reporting requires accurate tracking of incidents and procedures, but the real challenge is having reliable data ready when needed. When information is spread across different tools, teams often face delays, incomplete data, and time-consuming preparation.

At MEG, we understand these challenges and how the process works in practice. By capturing incidents in real time and structuring data throughout the year, MEG helps ensure accurate, consistent, and traceable records while simplifying HQR submissions.

This not only reduces the burden at reporting time but also gives teams better visibility to identify risks, improve workflows, and support ongoing patient safety improvements.

How MEG Helps ASCs Manage Quality Reporting

At MEG, our goal is to make quality management easier for healthcare teams. MEG’s digital platform helps organisations centralise incident reporting, making it simpler to capture, review, and learn from incidents.

For Ambulatory Surgical Centres, this means:

Simple Incident Reporting
Staff can quickly document incidents through a user-friendly interface, helping ensure that important details are captured accurately.

Centralised Data
All incident information is stored in one place, making it easier for quality teams to review reports and prepare submissions.

Clear Quality Insights
Dashboards and reports help teams monitor trends, identify risks early, and support ongoing improvement initiatives.

By connecting reporting with quality insights, MEG supports healthcare organisations in strengthening both compliance and patient safety across U.S. ambulatory care.

Preparing for the Future of Quality Reporting

Healthcare quality reporting will continue to evolve, and organisations that rely solely on manual processes may find it increasingly difficult to keep up.

Digital quality management tools can help ASCs:

• Reduce administrative workload

• Improve data accuracy

• Stay prepared for regulatory reporting

• Support proactive patient safety initiatives

When incident reporting is easier for staff and clearer for leadership, it becomes more than a compliance requirement—it becomes a valuable part of improving care.

Take the Next Step

If your team is looking for a simpler way to manage incident reporting and quality data, MEG can help.

Book a demo to see how MEG supports safer, smarter quality management in U.S. ambulatory care.

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FAQ

What is the ASC Quality Reporting Program (ASCQR)?
ASCQR is a CMS program that requires Ambulatory Surgical Centres to report specific quality and patient safety measures each year.

What incidents must ASCs report?
Facilities must track events such as patient burns, falls, wrong-site surgeries, and unplanned hospital transfers.

How can digital systems help with ASCQR reporting?
Digital platforms make it easier to capture incidents, organise data, and prepare structured reports for regulatory submission.

How MEG Supports Healthcare Organisations with Vendor Assurance

HIPAA compliance is often treated as a baseline requirement when healthcare organisations assess digital vendors. Yet in reality, it is one of the most misunderstood areas of healthcare compliance. Assumptions about certification, responsibility and risk can slow procurement, increase administrative burden and create blind spots in vendor assurance.

To unpack what HIPAA compliance really means, and how healthcare organisations can evaluate vendors more effectively, we spoke with Guvanch Meredov, Head of Compliance and Data Protection Officer at MEG, following MEG’s successful HIPAA assessment.

In this blog, you’ll discover:

• What is HIPAA compliance and why does it matter? 

• The most common mistakes healthcare organisations make when assessing digital vendors 

• Why third-party HIPAA assessments matter for faster, lower-risk vendor onboarding 

• How MEG’s HIPAA certification builds on ISO 27001 and GDPR foundations 

• What an effective HIPAA evaluation looks like for hospital compliance and security teams

What is HIPAA compliance and why does it matter?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a U.S. federal law designed to protect sensitive patient health information, known as Protected Health Information (PHI). Any organisation that creates, receives, maintains or processes PHI on behalf of a healthcare provider is classified as a business associate and must meet strict administrative, physical and technical safeguards.

For healthcare organisations, HIPAA compliance is not optional. A single vendor with inadequate controls can expose hospitals to data breaches, regulatory penalties and reputational damage. As healthcare systems become increasingly digital and interconnected, ensuring every partner meets HIPAA requirements is essential to maintaining trust, continuity of care and operational resilience. This is particularly crucial in end-to-end quality management platforms like MEG, where sensitive information may be captured within Safety Events and Patient Experience workflows and must be protected at every stage.

The most common mistakes healthcare organisations make when assessing digital vendors

One of the most common mistakes is assuming that HIPAA compliance is a simple yes or no question. In practice, compliance exists on a spectrum of maturity, governance and operational execution, all of which we pride ourselves on at MEG.

Another frequent issue is treating all vendors as equal risk, regardless of whether they have undergone independent assessment. This often results in lengthy, repetitive questionnaires and manual reviews that delay deployment and consume valuable time for compliance, IT and clinical teams. At MEG we understand time is precious in healthcare and not only does this alignment verify our credibility, but allows for a more efficient procurement process with our clients. 

There is also widespread confusion around the concept of “HIPAA certification”. Many assume this is a formal government endorsement, when in fact no official federal HIPAA certified badge exists.

“People often mistake HIPAA certification for an official government seal. In reality, third-party assessments verify whether an organisation aligns with HIPAA requirements as a business associate handling PHI.”

— Guvanch Meredov, Head of Compliance and Data Protection Officer, MEG

Understanding these distinctions helps organisations move away from checkbox compliance and towards more meaningful risk-based evaluations.

Why third-party HIPAA assessments matter for faster, lower-risk vendor onboarding

Onboarding new digital platforms can be slow and resource intensive. Security reviews, control mapping and legal checks often repeat work that has already been completed elsewhere.

Third-party HIPAA assessments reduce this friction by providing independent assurance that a vendor’s controls have already been reviewed and tested against HIPAA standards. This allows healthcare organisations to focus on validating fit for purpose, rather than rebuilding assessments from scratch.

“Our HIPAA certification demonstrates that our administrative, physical and technical controls for PHI protection have already been audited and verified. This enables hospitals to onboard MEG more seamlessly through a Business Associate Agreement, rather than starting lengthy vetting processes from zero.”

— Guvanch Meredov, Head of Compliance and Data Protection Officer, MEG

The result is faster procurement, lower onboarding risk and reduced administrative burden for already stretched teams.

How MEG’s HIPAA certification builds on ISO 27001 and GDPR foundations

MEG’s approach to HIPAA compliance did not start from a blank slate. ISO 27001 provided a strong foundation, with approximately 60 percent overlap in security controls. GDPR further reinforced data protection, governance and accountability practices.

The key challenge was mapping these existing controls to HIPAA’s healthcare-specific requirements and closing any remaining gaps to ensure full alignment for PHI protection.

This layered approach avoids duplication while delivering deeper safeguards where they matter most. For hospital security and compliance teams, it means confidence that controls are comprehensive, consistent and specifically designed for healthcare data, rather than adapted as an afterthought. 

In practical terms, this means that whether a healthcare team is logging a safety event or managing sensitive documents and policies within MEG, the same governance framework underpins how data is accessed, stored and monitored.

What an effective HIPAA evaluation looks like for hospital compliance and security teams

A realistic HIPAA evaluation looks beyond marketing claims and self-attestation. It focuses on independently assessed controls, operational maturity and a vendor’s ability to scale securely within the U.S. healthcare environment.

“HIPAA certification is not an empty statement. We invested heavily because it proves MEG is a reliable business associate for handling PHI securely. For hospitals, this translates to faster onboarding, pre-mapped controls and ready assurances.”

— Guvanch Meredov, Head of Compliance and Data Protection Officer, MEG

Effective evaluations prioritise transparency, evidence and continuous improvement. They recognise the value of trusted, third-party assessed partners who reduce risk while enabling healthcare teams to adopt digital solutions with confidence.

Building trust through assurance, not assumption

At MEG, HIPAA certification is part of a broader commitment to security, privacy and trust. It complements existing ISO 27001 and GDPR programmes and supports MEG’s mission to reduce administrative burden for healthcare teams.

By investing in robust, audited frameworks, MEG helps healthcare organisations move faster without compromising on safety, compliance or patient trust.

Interested in how an independently assessed, HIPAA-aligned platform like MEG can reduce onboarding effort and risk?

About MEG

MEG is a healthcare quality management platform that helps healthcare providers streamline regulatory compliance, patient safety, and quality assurance through a single, intuitive solution. Trusted by leading healthcare organisations worldwide—including DaVita International, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, King’s College Hospital London & KSA, Guy’s & St. Thomas NHS Trust, and M42—MEG reduces regulatory burden, improves operational efficiency, and enhances patient care.

Its modular, mobile-friendly platform supports accreditation, incident reporting, risk assessments, policy management, credentialing, and AI-powered analytics. With real-time data entry, automated workflows, and seamless interoperability with EHRs, BI systems, and other hospital technologies, MEG enables continuous quality improvement while reducing administrative overhead.

MEG operates under a rigorous Information Security Management System (ISMS) and holds ISO 27001 certification, ensuring robust security, encryption, and vendor compliance. As a trusted partner to hospitals, healthcare networks, and providers globally, MEG delivers a scalable, secure, and data-driven platform to optimise compliance and patient outcomes.

For more information, contact enquiries@megit.com.

MEG Ranked 21st in Deloitte 2025 Technology Fast 50 Awards

The MEG team at the Deloitte 2025 Technology Fast 50 Awards

Dublin, Ireland, 27th November 2025 – MEG has been recognised as one of Ireland’s fastest-growing technology companies for the second year running, securing the #21 position in the 2025 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards. The company has risen three places since last year, reflecting sustained momentum and expanding impact across international healthcare markets.

MEG’s CEO, Kerrill Thornhill, credits the company’s progress to its commitment to customer-centred innovation and its growing global client base. He said, 

“This recognition reflects the trust our healthcare partners place in us and the work our team puts into building technology that genuinely improves care quality, safety and patient outcomes. As healthcare systems face increasing complexity, we are proud to support organisations with solutions that make care safer, more consistent and more transparent.”

MEG continues to grow across Europe, the Middle East, North & South America and Asia-Pacific supporting hospitals and health systems with an end-to-end quality management platform that centralises real-time auditing, incident oversight, document management, governance processes and improvement activity in one unified system.

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards rank the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in Ireland based on four-year revenue growth. The 2025 cohort collectively generated €1.76 billion in annual revenues and employed more than 7,600 people. This year’s ranking highlights the continued strength of Ireland’s indigenous tech sector, now in its 26th year of recognition.

This year’s result also highlights the increasing influence of artificial intelligence in driving growth. Commenting on this year’s results, James Toomey, Partner and Fast 50 Lead at Deloitte, said:

“A standout from this year’s awards is that companies with Artificial Intelligence (AI) embedded in their operations are seeing the biggest growth, but access to skilled employees who can prompt and deploy AI effectively will be crucial.”

MEG expressed its gratitude to its team, customers and partners for their continued support, noting that the company’s achievements are the result of shared commitment and collaboration. MEG also extended its thanks to Deloitte Ireland for this recognition and congratulated all organisations included in the 2025 Fast 50 ranking.

About MEG

MEG is a digital quality management system for healthcare. Its suite of configurable mobile and cloud-based tools enables providers to engage staff in quality improvement, patient safety, and manage compliance with accreditation or regulatory standards. The easy-to-use modules can be used by frontline workers on any device to collect data from all over an organisation. They can capture incidents, conduct audits, risk assessments, feedback surveys, and access documents and information anytime at the point of care. Management can collate, analyse and act upon real-time information and metrics across multiple sites, consolidating data into a centralised platform. MEG operates in more than 30 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Australasia, and Latin America and offers multilingual support.