Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept the good intent in the amendment. I would reiterate that this is not a Bill about complaints; rather, it is a Bill about open disclosure and regulation. I want to be very clear. The open disclosure in the Bill covers clinical instances. The issue in the 2004 Act is not about open disclosure; rather it is about who people complain to. The 2004 Act states that if a patient wants to make a complaint about a clinical issue, he or she does so through the professional body. Non-clinical issues go to the HSE. That is what the Act says. The argument put forward in the amendment is that a clinical complaint should not go to a professional body but rather the HSE. That is what the amendment deals with. It is nothing to do with the right to know and be told the truth. All of those issues are covered in the Bill under open disclosure.

I want to be very clear. We can disagree on whether we change the rules around complaining to professional bodies versus the HSE. Clearly, that is not within the remit of the Bill. It is something that needs to be looked at. If we were to do it now it would create serious issues in terms of processes. It would end up disempowering patients, because at the moment there are at least governance processes in place where complaints go to professional bodies. If we remove that, what governance and protections for patients, transparency and accountability will be in place? The answer is there would be none.

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