Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 September 2023
506. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Health to provide details on the progress that has been made by his Department since the formation of the Government to develop and fully efficient and modern eHealth and ICT infrastructure. [40969/23]
View answerThe ICT environment supporting the provision of health services to the public in Ireland is the largest of its kind in the State, providing 24/7 services to over 70,000 end users across 2,000 interwoven systems and applications.
Despite significant increases in funding since the formation of this Government in terms of ICT capital, revenue and staffing, there is still much to be done to catch up with other EU member states in relation to digital health capacity and capabilities.
Our health services have experienced positive digital developments during the lifetime of this Government. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital health globally and nationally. Patient and clinical demand for the adoption of digital health accelerated in the response to Covid-19 resulting in a sustained increase in the use of telemedicine, remote care programmes and the electronic transfer of prescriptions, that necessitated changes to legislation. Our Covid-19 response required the digitisation of test and trace services to maintain social distancing and speed up the process from sampling to notification and reporting.
Overall, a data driven approach was taken to managing the response to Covid-19 allowing for the monitoring of infection rates and tracking the effectiveness of vaccination efforts. This was all enabled through digitisation of health services and functions.
However, the ransomware attack on the Health Service Executives (HSE’s) health information systems in May 2021, also highlighted the real risks to health systems based on the criminal activities of those involved in cyberattacks.
Since the attack in 2021, this government has provided additional funding in terms of capital, revenue and staffing on a sustained basis, to act on the recommendations of the independent post incident report and build the additional resilience for these critical systems that underpin delivery of our health services today.
More broadly, we continue to invest in various digital health initiatives that have been deployed and are delivering benefits for both patients and the workforce. Significantly, enterprise level Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems have been deployed at St James hospital, the national rehabilitation hospital, and the national forensics hospital, and across several maternity sites. Following a decision by Government, the EHR for Children Hospital Ireland has been procured.
The New Children’s Hospital hospital-wide EHR is underway with a contract now in place and staff being recruited to support its roll-out. When complete, this will be the most extensive EHR deployment in Ireland to date. The New Children’s Hospital has been designed as a digital hospital and requires a functional electronic health record as a core element of its operations.
The development of a new Digital Health & Social Care Strategic Framework (2023-2030) is currently underway. This will align with Government’s “Harnessing Digital” and EU ambitions under the EU Digital Decade to provide patients with access to digital health records by 2030. The new Strategic Framework sets the roadmap for digital health in Ireland for the next decade providing a clear roadmap for investment in digital health and delivery of electronic health record systems. In tandem, the HSE are developing an underlying Implementation Plan that will detail the specifics and sequencing of the roadmap and confirm the necessary support required to realise the intent of the framework and the plan.
The key goal of the framework and implementation plan is to support reform of the health service through streamlined processes, modernisation of services and by providing patients and healthcare professionals with access to digital health records. This will empower patients and enable healthcare professionals to treat patients more safely by providing them with access to better information. It will also result in Ireland being better positioned to meet EU expectations and obligations under the European Health Data Space directive and EU Digital Decade.
A key underlying enabler of the new Digital Strategic Framework will be the new Health Information Bill. The purpose of the Health Information Bill is to provide a clear, certain and consistent legislative framework to transform the health information system into one that is fit for purpose and best serves the individual patient, healthcare practitioners and society as a whole. With that in mind, the Bill is focussed on delivering patient-centred integrated care; improving performance and innovation in the health service; and supporting digital and data initiatives in healthcare.
