Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 92: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the action she will take to ensure that clinical audits, as obliged under the 1997 consultants contract, are conducted and reported on at a national level; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17699/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context

In March 2007 the Comptroller and Auditor General produced a report on the operation of the medical consultants' contract. The report found that there was limited follow-through on the obligations set out in the contract concerning clinical audit. The report indicated that consultants have a pivotal role to play in this area and consequently future contractual arrangements should address the obligations of the respective parties and the mechanisms through which clinical audit will be implemented.

I am advised by the Health Service Executive that a significant amount of clinical audit is already undertaken by consultants and their teams in the hospital setting. Currently the National Hospitals Office is developing a framework for quality and risk management and continuous quality improvement across the acute hospital sector. A comprehensive programme of clinical audit, that includes involving professional groups in multi-professional clinical audit, will be one of the key elements of continuous quality improvement in the framework.

Earlier this year I launched the Commission on Patient Safety and Quality Assurance which will advise on the most appropriate systems for patient safety, including the participation by all health care staff in audit programmes which will aim to ensure quality improvement. The Commission is expected to report mid-2008.