David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

I support the amendment, but I will pretty quickly make a point about the digital transformation of healthcare. This is something the Joint Committee on Health has spent a lot of time looking at over the past number of years. I will not rehearse all of the arguments, because we know we have a long road to travel. There is a direction of travel now with summary care records. It will take some time to get all the bells and whistles and electronic health records similar to those that exist in many other European countries. It strikes me that it is red tape that frustrates the system. I was in a hospital recently visiting a patient. We hear about patients on trolleys, but a trolley was rolled past me that was loaded with files. The nurse said that this is where we are in 2025. There were a huge number of patient files and records on that trolley. I do not know how any system could operate like that.

I have also dealt with many cases where the families request the records of patients who may have passed away in circumstances where there may be concerns about how they were treated. Again, in the context of medical records, I sometimes wonder how things are not missed and how doctors and nurses can keep on top of everything in a paper-based system. I have to reinforce that point. We need to do more.

The Oireachtas committee again stands ready to assist in respect of this matter and to do everything we can to support the Minister and the officials. Obviously, it will require funding. There is an amount of funding ring-fenced for this. The Minister cannot or will not say how much is involved because. obviously, contracts have to go out to tender. I accept that, but it is important for us, as spokespersons on health, to again point out the urgent need to invest in this area. There is or was a reluctance on the part of the Department of public expenditure and reform to invest in health, possibly and probably because of what happened with the personnel, payroll and related systems. Fingers were burnt in the past. We have to move away from that. We have to accept that the world has moved on and that everybody is using IT and digital systems now. The healthcare system has to keep pace with that.

While the Bill is important, it is only the starting point. It provides a legislative framework. The funding, the urgency and the delivery have to come from the political system. In the past, the health committee has played a very constructive role in working with officials. We will do so again if required.

See this speech in context