Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 February 2022
822. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Health the steps he is taking to involve persons and groups affected by failures of the State to provide proper healthcare such as a group (details supplied) in the development of the Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5170/22]
View answerThe Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019 provides the legislative framework for a number of important patient safety issues, including the mandatory open disclosure of a list of notifiable patient safety incidents and the notification of same externally to the Health Information and Quality Authority, Chief Inspector of Social Services and the Mental Health Commission, as appropriate, to contribute to national learning and system-wide improvements. This mandatory requirement for open disclosure will ensure that patients and their families receive appropriate timely information in relation to an incident that may have occurred in relation to their care. The Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019 will also bring private hospitals within the remit of the Health Act 2007. The relevant provisions extend the remit of the Health Information and Quality Authority, allowing it to set standards for the operation of private hospitals, to monitor compliance with them and to undertake inspections and investigations as required. The Bill also contains provisions to support clinical audit within the health service.The Bill was introduced into Dáil Éireann on the 12 December 2019 and passed Second Stage in the Dáil at that time. The Bill is a Programme for Government commitment and is expected to go to Dáil Committee stage in the near future, after which it will be progressed to Dáil Report Stage and through all Stages in the Seanad.The Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019 is part of the broader programme of legislative and policy initiatives to improve the ability of the health service to anticipate, identify, and respond to patient safety issues, and to improve the quality and safety of health services for patients. Creating a culture of open disclosure and learning from the things that go wrong is the bedrock of making services safer.The Department of Health is committed to ensuring and supporting the central role that patients play in working with the public health service to develop health policy and in designing and reforming health services. Patient representatives participate on a number of committees and working groups across the Department of Health, the HSE and health agencies, and make a significant contribution to the strategic decision-making work of those committees and groups, including members of the 221+ Group as part of the CervicalCheck Steering Committee.In developing the Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019, which builds on the Civil Liability Amendment Act (2017), my Department has taken part in extensive stakeholder engagements, including with Dr Gabriel Scally and members of the 221+ Group. The intention behind these engagements is to ensure that the lessons learned from users of our health and social services inform the provisions of the Bill. This includes additional provisions made following consideration of recommendations made by Dr Gabriel Scally. These provisions place specific obligations on health services providers and health practitioners to ensure that all relevant information is provided to the patient and their family in the course of making an open disclosure of a notifiable incident.
