Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and I welcome this Bill. It is an issue I have spoken about a good deal in the past five years, particularly because I have examined the Danish, Finnish and Swedish systems, which are way ahead of ours, and other systems internationally, including the United States, on the issue of e-health. The Danes started developing their system as far back as 1994; therefore, we have a good deal of catching up to do.

The Bill clearly outlines the setting up of a structure in regard to individual health identifiers for patients and service users, and also the setting up of registered health service provider identifiers for health professionals and organisations. The idea behind the measure is to improve quality and safety of care, streamline record management, reduce repetitive and unnecessary care, as the Minister mentioned, reduce administrative costs, and facilitate e-health projects. It is interesting to read the report from HIQA which estimates that up to 30% of the health budget may be spent on handling, collecting, searching for and storing information. That is a huge part of the budget. Therefore, this legislation and this development is welcome.

To refer again to the Danish system, Denmark has a similar population to Ireland's and it is interesting that their system has saved over €1.8 billion over quite a short period in the provision of health care. Their system is interesting. Each person has a patient medication card. When a person goes to a general practitioner, the GP uses the person's card to access his or her file. Instead of handing him or her a prescription, the GP puts the prescription on the card and gives the card back to the person, who then goes to the pharmacist. The pharmacist can access the prescription on the card and give the person the prescribed drugs. Research has shown that approximately 27% of the handwriting on prescriptions from hospitals cannot be understood by pharmacists. Computerisation would make a major contribution in terms of ensuring the right information is given to the professionals dealing with the patient.

It is also about accessing records quickly and efficiently. Under the Danish system, a person admitted to hospital who has his or her patient medication card does not have to wait for three or four hours for the file to be found. Once the card is produced, access to the records can be gained immediately and there is no delay. We have a good deal of catching up to do in that area. When they introduced the system in Denmark in 1994, there were approximately 4,000 exchanges of messages. Last year, there were 60 million exchanges of messages within the health service because of the system they are using.

Regarding the sharing of information, I had a meeting recently with the Irish Pharmaceutical Society, whose pharmacists believe they can make a far bigger contribution in terms of savings and also in developing the area of e-health. They are very much in favour of this development.

The Department of Health spoke about this issue as far back as 2001. Thirteen years on we are only now putting on the pressure to develop and implement it. It is long overdue. I welcome the work by the Minister and the Department on progressing this matter and ensuring it will be operational and effective in a short period. There will be savings, and this is about getting better value for the taxpayer in the provision of health care.

The individual health identifier is a unique, non-transferable lifetime number assigned to all individuals accessing health and social care. Its purpose is to accurately identify the individual and enable health and social care to be delivered to the right patient at the right place and at the right time. That is the importance of this legislation.

On the benefits of an individual health identifier, it improves patient safety and quality of care, streamlines record management, reduces repetitive and unnecessary care, and reduces administrative costs. In terms of the benefits to the health service provider, it enhances the quality and safety of patient care, reduces the possibility of administrative and clinical error, and reduces duplication. It also accelerates access to information, which is extremely important.

The Bill is comprehensively drafted. I will read it in more detail in the coming days but I believe it is a measure we should have introduced ten years ago because we are now far behind many other European countries in this area. It is interesting to see the developments in the Nordic countries such as Finland, Sweden and Denmark and how much they have achieved in a short period. There is no reason we could not do the same.

We have the expertise in this country. We have health care professionals who provide very good health care but we also need to make sure that they can provide that level of health care in a far more effective and efficient way and within a shorter period of time. It is extremely important we ensure that is done.

The Minister has given an explanation of the medical card procedure. More than 1,983,000 people now have either a medical card or a GP only card. We have a great deal of information already computerised. The Minister was correct in highlighting the issue where decisions were taken, where the people taking them did not have access to the information they required. The introduction of this legislation and the setting up of the systems can eliminate many of the problems that have arisen in the medical card area and they can also ensure that GPs, nurses and community nurses, in particular, can get the necessary information to look after patients in their own homes. Because we have such a high turnover of medical staff, especially among junior doctors, it is important they get all the correct information and that such information is available to them in the event of a person suddenly being admitted to hospital as they are on the front line.

This legislation will set up the structure that is needed within the health care sector. I welcome this Bill. I also welcome the work that the Minister, the Department of Health and the HSE are doing in this area.