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Information and Communications Technology

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 December 2018

Wednesday, 19 December 2018

Questions (366)

Louise O'Reilly

Question:

366. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the timeframe and cost per year of full implementation of the e-health system. [53826/18]

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Written answers

I assume that the Deputy is referring to the planned capital provision to support the implementation of eHealth. Additional investment in eHealth and ICT for the period 2018-2021 was secured by my Department as part of the Mid-Term Capital Review and supported through the National Development Plan. The capital provision for eHealth and ICT for 2018 to 2021 is set out below and will allow for a multi-annual rolling programme of work on multiple projects:

2018

2019

2020

2021

€60m

€85m

€100m

€120m

The planned Capital provision will fund a large range of projects that support my Departments eHealth strategy as well as the HSE Knowledge & Information Plan as part of a rolling annual programme of work. The planned funding is for important systems such as the Electronic Health Record, the National Financial Management System, Individual Health Identifier, the Maternal and Newborn Information System and others.

A significant portion of the capital provided for ICT each year is required simply to replace and upgrade the existing ICT infrastructure and systems already deployed and necessary to support patient care and an organisations the size of the HSE. The balance of capital is allocated to the development and implementation of projects. Whilst the majority of these projects are for eHealth, there are also others e.g. corporate systems, that also need to funded from the same capital envelope.

Full development and implementation of the eHealth strategy will be over many years on a rolling basis with programme reviews, cost planning and annual expenditure commitments being made accordingly. It will ensure that Ireland can benefit from the potential of ICT and eHealth to improve health and wellbeing through improved efficiencies and the effectiveness of its health delivery services.

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