Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and thank him for bringing the legislation before us. The Bill seeks to establish a profile system of unique identifiers for individuals within the health system, as other Senators and the Minister have pointed out. It makes perfect sense, as we will be able to track an individual going through the system and his or her interaction with doctors, dentists, nurses and all medical personnel. We will know if a person is undergoing treatment and if he or she has reacted badly to a particular medicine or has an allergy. Patients are continually questioned about such issues.

Implementation of a unique identifier system is recognised as being an essential infrastructural initiative which will facilitate many significant improvements to the health system in areas such as patient safety and improved data access and quality, leading to improved overall systems efficiency. It is also a fundamental requirement for deploying electronic solutions and an essential building block for "money follows the patient" and universal health insurance, both of which are cornerstones of the Government's reform agenda in the health area.

There was a story from last April in the Irish Examiner which made it clear that this system is required. The journalist, Niamh Drohan, posing as a student, visited seven GPs displaying symptoms of depression which she had read about on the Internet. She subsequently received prescriptions from all seven GPs, with few advising about maximum dosage, and none advising about potential side-effects. The article posed a number of interesting issues but more than anything else, it exposed how people, if they so wish, could effectively "game" the system and receive multiple prescriptions. She wrote at the time that of the seven phone calls she made seeking an appointment, just two inquired if medical records needed to be transferred. Three prescriptions were issued for one month, one prescription was issued for two months, another was for three months and yet another was for six months. The total was approximately 20 months of antidepressant medication without the need to revisit any GP, which is incredible. In one case a three-month prescription was given out in fewer than ten minutes. This Bill should effectively clamp down on the issue in a very simple way and ultimately stop anybody from abusing the system in this way.

Senator Burke has done some research on Scandinavian countries, where systems have been implemented that are ahead again of what we propose to implement. I visited Estonia recently on committee business. That country is not coming from the same base as us, so it was less complicated for them to implement a system, but it has a sophisticated system whereby a person's records are available to any medical practitioner. The people involved are very much aware of the data protection element. I was fascinated by their work, and I am sure the departmental officials may have already considered the Estonian case. The information is available on a website, and I can provide the information I was given if it could be a useful comparison.

I agree with Senator MacSharry's comments regarding a national identity card. In Estonia, they do not stop at medical records, and in a way it could be seen as bordering on "Big Brother", if one was somewhat paranoid. The country can track everything to do with a person's motor car and health, as well as systems like social welfare requirements. In certain circumstances, sensitive information can be held back and released with the consent of the person to whom the information applies.

It is clear the legislation is a building block and first step towards deploying e-health solutions that could provide us with better data access, better health care analytics, and, overall, a better and more efficient health care system. Moreover, it is also a platform for the universal health care insurance. Health care reform has faced many obstacles but we have been successful in reducing waiting times across the country. In a few months we will introduce free GP care for those who are six and under, and this Bill will also play a useful part in holistic health care strategy, as it will allow us to follow the patient, ensure the system is working efficiently, and potentially highlight anomalies within the system in a very efficient way by giving us very straightforward data which can be analysed and potentially debated. There is no doubt that this will help us improve the national health care system.

Privacy concerns are important, and that is why consultations have been held with the relevant data protection authorities. We must ensure to adhere to the best international data protection governance, and I am confident we will do so. I congratulate the Minister and his officials for their work and commend the Bill to the House.