Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 340: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will make a statement on recent findings by an organisation (details supplied) that diagnoses of cancer and asthma, motor neurone diseases and other conditions should be treated in the same way as diagnosis of infectious diseases with full backgrounds of patients being placed on the national register. [11764/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The National Health Information Strategy sets out the strategic direction for the better use of information in the Irish health system. One of the recommendations in the Information Strategy was to develop a legislative framework that would provide the necessary statutory underpinning for the development of information systems that would enhance patient care, patient safety and the performance of the health system generally.

My Department is currently finalising a discussion document that will serve as the basis for a major public consultation exercise on the matters to be addressed in a Health Information Bill. That consultation exercise is planned to commence shortly. One of the matters to be specifically covered in the consultative process will be that of population health registries.

While the development of health registries can contribute to enhanced decision-making in the health sector such development must have regard to issues of privacy, confidentiality and consent as well as the need to collect and hold only such personal patient information as is directly necessary for the purposes involved. These issues are among the factors that the discussion paper will cover.