Written Answers. - Health Information.
Alan Shatter
Question:
145
Mr. Shatter
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
if he will establish a website to facilitate access to reliable health information on the World Wide Web similar to, for example, the health finder which is based in the United States or the proposed official national health service library site of health and medicine to be established by the British Government; and the consideration, if any, given by him to this issue.
[22437/98]
I am aware that the proliferation of health information on the Internet, while offering obvious benefits to consumers, has also resulted in a number of problems. These include difficulties in locating relevant information, and concerns about the sources, quality and reliability of information once it has been found. In this context, "gateway" sites, maintained by authoritative statutory bodies, such as those cited by the Deputy, are clearly useful in pointing to recognised sources of health information on the Internet, and providing some degree of reassurance to consumers and health professionals about the reliability of their contents.
I have recently convened a Working Group on Health Services Public Information, which is examining existing inadequacies in the provision of health information to the general public and specific groups by health agencies, and which will be making recommendations aimed at effecting improvements in information quality and dissemination, including the roles of conventional and electronic media.
The working group will examine the final report of the Consumer Health Information Research Project, which was funded by my Department from national lottery funds and published in May 1998. The report made a number of recommendations for improvements in public access to high quality, evidence-based information, and drew attention to the potential role of the Internet in assisting in these improvements. The group will also examine the work of the NHS Centre for Health Information Quality, the proposals for a National Electronic Library for Health, and for a "National Gateway" website to health information services on the Internet, to which I presume the Deputy is making reference in his question, contained in the recent United Kingdom strategy document "Information for health".
I am aware of the potential of the Internet in disseminating health information not only to the public at large, but in facilitating access to this information for groups with special needs like carers, people with disabilities and people living in rural communities. In this context, I will be asking the working group to assess in detail the feasibility of a national health "gateway" website here. The working group is due to report in mid-1999.
Maternity and Infant Care Scheme.
Ivor Callely
Question:
147
Mr. Callely
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
the benefits of the mother and child scheme; if his attention has been drawn to concerns of general practitioners participating in the scheme; when the scheme was last updated; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[23406/98]
The maternity and infant care scheme provides an agreed programme of care to an expectant mother arising out of her pregnancy and to her newborn baby for six weeks after birth. The scheme, which is free of charge and is available to all women who are ordinarily resident in Ireland, offers a system of combined care by a general practitioner of the expectant mother's choice and by an obstetrician at the maternity unit/hospital of the mother's choice.
The report of the Maternity and Infant Care Scheme Review Group, which was circulated to interested parties in April 1997, examined the role of the scheme in the context of maternity services generally. It advised that the system of combined care provided under the scheme was the best and most convenient form of ante-natal care for the majority of mothers. The group made a series of recommendations on the delivery of the scheme whose implementation is at present being pursued by my Department. In this context, officials of my Department have been engaged in discussions with the Irish Medical Organisation, which represents general practitioners, and at no stage have any concerns of general practitioners about the scheme been brought to the attention of this Department.
