Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 37:

In page 50, lines 17 and 18, to delete “of the services” and substitute “of any of the services”.

I will speak to amendments Nos. 37 to 41, inclusive. I am introducing an amendment to section 9 of the Health Act 2007 to clarify and strengthen the powers to direct an investigation into Ireland's health and social services by the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA. Section 9 of the Health Act 2007 gives the Minister for Health and Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the power to direct HIQA to undertake a statutory investigation to address serious ongoing risks to patient safety in Ireland's health and social services.

In the National Maternity Hospital v. the Minister for Health in September 2018, the court quashed a decision by the then Minister for Health to direct HIQA to carry out a section 9 investigation into a maternal death that had occurred at the hospital. The central difficulty in this case addressed in the judgment and by counsel throughout was the very high bar set by section 9 of the Health Act for ordering such an investigation under this section. It is clear from the judgment and from legal advices received that the current discretion for the ordering of an investigation under section 9 is extremely limited and impractical in terms of allowing for an appropriate response to ongoing risk to patient safety within our health and social services.

The proposed amendments to section 9 of the Health Act 2007 will ensure that when directing an investigation into Ireland's health and social services, the Ministers and-or HIQA must believe on reasonable grounds that there may be serious risk to the health or welfare of people receiving services that will be the subject of investigation. This replaces the previous requirement for a belief there is a serious risk.

Second, there may be a section 9 investigation into a specific service, notwithstanding that a similar risk may exist in another service. Third, the purpose of the investigation will include a public interest element where a need for learning and improvement of services will form part of the rationale for requiring an investigation under section 9. The provisions are repeated for both the Minister for Health and Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. References in the Bill are to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and these will subsequently be updated with the new title.