David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 10, after line 39, to insert the following: “Patient Safety Council

4.(1) The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passage of this Act, establish for the purposes of this section, a Patient Safety Council, subject to subsection (5).

(2) The Patient Safety Council, so established by the Minister pursuant to this Act, shall meet annually, within the first 3 months of each year, on however many occasions as it deems necessary to complete a report mandated insubsection (3).

(3) The Patient Safety Council shall furnish to the Minister a report, subject to subsection (4), within the first 3 months of each year.

(4) The Annual Report of the Patient Safety Council shall review the operation of this Act in the prior year and shall include:

(a) the views of stakeholders referred to in this Act and others as the Patient Safety Council may decide relevant to the responsibilities of the Patient Safety Council;

(b) the number and nature of incidents notified under this Act in the prior year;

(c) recommendations for amendments to this Act and any other Act as may be deemed relevant by the Patient Safety Council;

(d) recommendations for addition to Schedule 1of this Act;

(e) any other details which the Patient Safety Council may deem pertinent;

(f) in its first report, recommendations for ensuring that where harm has occurred and has been admitted, that some form of redress or scheme for redress is established under the Act for the avoidance of litigation, to review in particular the appropriateness of sections relating to admissions and liability.

(5) Membership of the Patient Safety Council shall be on appointment by the Minister and shall include:

(a) 2 patient advocates at minimum;

(b) a representative of the Authority;

(c) a representative of the Commission;

(d) a representative of the Medical Council;

(e) a representative of the Nursing and Midwifery Board;

(f) a representative of any other professional regulatory body or any other body as the Patient Safety Council may deem relevant and recommend to the Minister from time to time.”.

I welcome the Minister. I certainly will be supporting the speedy passage of the Bill through the Oireachtas. All present know its importance. There are many related issues with which we also need to deal, including safeguarding legislation, which I hope the Minister will be in a position to bring forward this year. There are issues relating to the rights of social care teams and safeguarding teams to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect. There are issues of accountability at management level when there are failures. Such failures have been highlighted time and again. All of these issues are related to what we are trying to achieve in the Bill. I welcome this element of it. Mandatory reporting is important. I wish to put on record that my thoughts are with Vicky Phelan, Róisín Molloy and many other men and women who were victims of a lack of mandatory reporting and mandatory disclosure. In my view, we are here today to improve systems for them.

The Minister made a point in his opening statement that is relevant to the amendment I am proposing to the Bill. He stated the Bill should ensure safer and better health services for patients. Of course, I hope that is what the Bill will do. Any improvement in that direction is welcome. The patients, however, will be the judges of whether it does what it needs to do, whether the Bill, once implemented and operational, will make health services safer and more fit for purpose and, as the Minister stated, engender a new culture of reporting within the health service. All present hope that is what will happen.

The amendment seeks to establish a patient council. The reason for that is obvious. Patient advocates and patients themselves should have a voice in respect of the supervision of the Bill when enacted. It calls for, at minimum, a report to be published each year by the patient council. Obviously, it will meet as often as it deems necessary to review the operation of the legislation, but also to make recommendations. As the Minister stated on Second Stage, the notifiable incidents under Schedule 1 may well be changed. The Minister has the power to do so as time progresses. If there are other incidents that need to be included in that Schedule, that can be done. Surely, however, patients should have a voice in that process as well.

I tabled the amendment in good faith. I know many patient advocates and patients who have been through a very difficult time. It pains me to say it but there is a significant amount of distrust in the system simply because many people quite rightly believe there is not just a lack of a culture of open disclosure but also a lack of a culture of accountability within the health services at a senior management level. I am not pointing a finger at any individual; it is a culture issue. One just has to look at all the scandals there have been. I will not go through them all. We know the full range of scandals involving patients being let down and becoming victims of a failed process. Establishing this council would be a very important message to send in the context of giving them a sense that they will be part of this process and journey.

I will leave it there. In the spirit of getting through all the amendments, it is important that I do not labour the point. I have made the argument for the amendment and I ask the Minister to consider accepting it.