Vol. 557 No. 6
67 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will consider amending the registration of deaths legislation to require registrars to inform the General Medical Services Board of all deaths, in order that deceased patients can be removed from GPs' lists in order to eliminate administrative difficulties which have led to some GPs being paid for medical card hol ders on their lists who have died; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22895/02]
My Department and the Department of Social and Family Affairs are engaged in a joint project to modernise the civil registration service. The focus in the initial stage of the project is the introduction of new systems, procedures and legislation to facilitate the electronic registration of vital events including births, stillbirths, deaths, marriages and adoptions and the electronic production of certificates. In addition the archival records held by the General Register Office and the associated indices are being converted to an electronic format in a separate project in Roscommon.
The legal changes necessary to enable the direct electronic registration of births and deaths and the holding of birth death and marriage records in an electronic format were included in the Social Welfare Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 2002. The other provisions required to facilitate the wider modernisation of the registration service are being included in a new civil registration Bill, which is currently being drafted.
The modernisation of the civil registration service is a key building block underpinning the integration of public service delivery and e-government objectives of providing more convenient access to services and will facilitate the sharing of information between Government agencies. It is proposed that future registration of vital events will include a personal public service number – PPS No. – which will be used as a unique customer reference number by public service bodies, including the General Medical Services (Payments) Board.
Question No. 68 answered with Question No. 53.
