Andrew Boylan
Question:74 Mr. Boylan asked the Minister for Health if he intends preparing a patient's charter with specific reference to children and medical services.
Written Answers. - Patients' Charter for Children.
Liz McManus
Question:266 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Health the number of children currently being treated in hospital; the plans, if any, he has to provide a patients' charter designed specifically for children; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The Government is committed under the Programme for a Partnership Government to reviewing the Charter of Rights for Hospital Patients to effect any necessary improvements and to ensure that it provides a properly structured system of patients' rights.
In addition, further charters which will be based on legal reform where necessary, will be issued to cover groups such as children, expectant mothers, the elderly, the mentally ill, and people with a physical or mental handicap.
Drafting is under way in my Department at present on a Charter of Rights for Children in Hospital and I hope to be in a position to issue this charter in coming months.
The Hospital In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE) system, which has approximately 60 per cent coverage of all hospital discharges, is currently the only source of information on hospitalisation by age group. In 1990, 26 per cent of discharges reported through HIPE were in the 0-14 age group, which is equivalent to an estimated 128,000 hospital discharges in the 0-14 age group during 1990.