Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy makes a very valid point. Information that is available, provided it is collected accurately, should be made public in order that patients can see it and if there are discrepancies between hospitals and services, they can at least ask probing questions as to why. That is why a few months ago, for the first time, my Department published data by hospital for all sorts of issues, including caesarean section rates in maternity services and in-hospital mortality rates for heart attacks and strokes. This was replicated at community level. We intend to expand the report next year and include more information into it, including perinatal mortality statistics. Information on certain complications is already included. It will be produced by my Department and published annually. It is very important that we include patient experience data. An external survey will be conducted of patients' experiences of hospitals and it will be reported on. A satisfaction survey was conducted in the past and will be carried out again and will be published annually.

While the Deputy does not do this, others abuse the statistics. Medical statistics are produced within competence intervals and have a margin of error, plus or minus 5% or even 25%, particularly when dealing with low numbers. We all need to stand together against vested interests and some in the media who turn data into league tables that are not statistically significant. We need to be united against that misinformation and sensationalism.

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