Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 June 2018
904. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Health the number of medical negligence legal actions taken against the State, him and individual medical or nursing staff who were or are based at the University Hospital Limerick, Dooradoyle, County Limerick in each of the years 2010 to 2017 and to date in 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25515/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra905. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Health the number of medical negligence legal actions taken against the State, the Minister for Health and individual medical or nursing staff who were or are based at the University Hospital Limerick, Dooradoyle, County Limerick in each of the years 2010 to 2017 and to date in 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25516/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 904 and 905 together.
The management of clinical negligence claims arising from the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients in public healthcare enterprises is delegated to the State Claims Agency which has a statutory mandate to investigate and manage these cases to completion.
My officials have been advised by the Agency that it publishes risk and claims data at a national level and at a location level in an anonymised manner. This is to support the Agency's risk management objective to implement targeted personal injury and property damage risk work programmes to mitigate litigation risk in State authorities and healthcare enterprises, in order to reduce the costs of future litigation against the State.
The Agency does not release data pertaining to an individual location as it has the potential of identifying sensitive information relating to an individual. Also, such information can be taken out of context and may lead to an adverse impact on incident reporting rates within these locations. The Agency proactively supports the increase in incident reporting by a healthcare service as it is considered to be indicative of the development of a strong patient safety culture.
