Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We did not really get an opportunity to talk about the issue of allergies, or people who are on Warfarin, blood thinners so on, and the dangers around that. I have been in a Coroner's Court hearing where it was on the file not to give the patient a particular medicine but it was not adhered to. I would like to think that if there was an electronic system, it would be coming up in red letters that they cannot ignore. It is very difficult for the clinician to know that when there is a file or, as Dr. Kennan suggested, several files. The best person to know what is in the file should be the patient. There is no way a clinician who is dealing with certainly 50 and possible 100 patients a day will be able to go through that file. Even though the clinician is supposed to know everything in it, the patient is the one who has to have it.

It becomes even more important when we consider rare diseases. A huge percentage of the Irish population have a rare disease and, in those cases, they are generally more informed about their condition than their doctor, so it is essential they have all of their own data to hand.