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

I thank the Seanad for the speed and efficiency with which it has completed Committee, Report and Final Stages of this Bill. I did not think we would get through it so quickly. I recognise that Senator Colm Burke took the lead on this important patient safety legislation some time ago. This Bill, which will require all doctors who are registered in the State to be appropriately insured and will ensure they are so insured, is important because we need to know patients have some recourse when things go wrong and we need to be sure doctors are properly insured for the work they do. I thank my officials, Mary Jackson and Kara Prole, for their work on this Bill. I would also like to thank the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for its work. The Bill will now go to the Dáil.

I would like to pick up on two points. I will take on board Senator Ó Domhnaill's comments about waiting lists in the north west. I am very aware of this issue. Additional resources have been provided to hospitals across the country to make sure nobody is waiting more than 15 months for an outpatient appointment, or any procedure, by the end of the year. I am getting a few examples of cases in which people have been waiting for that long. When those cases are looked into, it seems those people have not been waiting for that long; however, that is beside the point. It is something we are working on. When we run into difficulties, it is often a question of a specialist not being available, as opposed to a financial issue. It is something I am conscious of. I know the Senator takes a genuine interest in it. I appreciate the bipartisan manner in which he raised it today.

On the wider issue of the high cost of indemnity for doctors in Ireland, a number of reforms are in train. We are working with the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, on legislation that will introduce periodic payment orders. This will ensure there will be smaller settlements that can be reviewed over time on the basis of the changing needs of a patient, instead of big lump-sum settlements of €10 million or €12 million. Earlier this week, I received the approval of the Cabinet for the inclusion in that legislation of protection for open disclosure so that hospitals, doctors, midwives and others can give full information and apologise where something has gone wrong without having that used against them in court as an admission of liability. It can often take many months after something has happened to find out what really happened. We want hospitals, doctors, midwives, nurses and others to be enabled to make apologies and to give full information without having it then used against them in court, which is unfortunately what can happen.

Separately, the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, is bringing through the Legal Services Regulation Bill, which provides for pre-action protocols that will ensure cases happen more quickly and legal costs are reduced. That has had some success in Great Britain. We envisage that all of this legislation will have been passed by the time the Dáil and Seanad are dissolved. I hope that will happen. If it does not, the legislation can be revisited in 2016. When the State Claims Agency is defending claims on behalf of the HSE, it is more frequently offering mediation. I would like to see more people resolving their cases by mediation. The take-up from the side of the plaintiffs has been pretty low, unfortunately. I imagine their legal advisers are telling them to have their day in court, rather than going for mediation. I think that is regrettable, quite frankly. I would like to see mediation happening a little more often.

I would like to make a final point on the cost of indemnity. Obviously, there are two costs. The cost to the taxpayer of compensation claims, which is very large and is increasing, is my main concern. The secondary cost is the cost of insurance for consultants operating exclusively in private hospitals. I think we should bear in mind that it is an anomaly - and a little bit of a privilege, in fact - that the State covers any of the costs of people who work exclusively in the private sector. I am not aware that the State covers any of the insurance costs of any other group of professionals in society who work exclusively in the private sector. Perhaps that is a debate for another day. I thank the Senators for their support for this important Bill.