Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 February 2022
74. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health the number of referrals that have made to National Incident Review Panel since publication of its last annual report in 2018, by year of referral, the CHO area in which the incident took place and if the service was a HSE service or a HSE funded service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5194/22]
View answerThe National Independent Review Panel, NIRP, which is fully operational since 2018, is managed and directed by an independent chairperson and consists of independent panel members who have been appointed through a public appointment process.
The NIRP has been established to enable the HSE to undertake independent reviews when things go seriously wrong involving people within the community health and social care sector within HSE or HSE funded services. Although the NIRP is part of the HSE, it is independent of all HSE operations at both national and community level.
Since 2018 the NIRP have received four referrals. One in 2018, one in 2019, and two in 2020.
As per the NIRP’s Operational Guidelines 2021, all reports produced by the NIRP will be pseudonymised with all identifying information removed. In this context the NIRP cannot identify the CHO area that each review pertains to, nor can it identify whether the reviews pertain to a HSE or HSE funded service.
The NIRP will seek to determine what the relevant services and individuals involved in the case might have done differently that could have prevented the significant harm or improved the quality of life for the person/s concerned. It is important to remember, therefore, that the aim of the NIRP review process is to promote learning from cases where there have been extreme concerns about the safety and wellbeing of individuals who use a community health and social care service within a HSE or HSE funded service.
