Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 255: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the recommendations of the Judge Harding Clarke report into maternity services at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda that have been implemented; the recommendations still to be implemented; the timeframe for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19845/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Health Service Executive is overseeing the implementation of the recommendations of the Lourdes Hospital Inquiry Report as it relates to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. Accordingly, my Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy on the implementation of the recommendations in the Report in respect of the Hospital.

Following the publication of the Inquiry Report additional funding of €3m was allocated to the Health Service Executive in respect of patient safety and risk management measures nationally. The funding was targeted specifically at implementing the findings of the Inquiry Report and the Madden Report on Post Mortem Practice and Procedures. A number of other initiatives have been taken at national level since the publication of the Inquiry Report and which are designed to strengthen the patient safety framework nationally;

the establishment of the Commission on Patient Safety and Quality Assurance

the establishment of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA)

the enactment of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007.

Last year I established a special Commission on Patient Safety and Quality Assurance. The overall objective of the Commission is to develop clear and practical recommendations to ensure that quality and safety of care for patients is paramount within the healthcare system. The Commission is due to report to me in July of this year.

The Health Information and Quality Authority was also established as part of the Health Reform Programme. A core function of the Authority is to set standards on safety and quality of services and to monitor compliance on the part of the HSE and service providers with these standards in an open and transparent way. Other main functions of the Authority relating directly to patient safety include undertaking investigations as to the safety, quality and standards of services where it is believed that there is a serious risk to the health or welfare of a person receiving services.

In addition, the main objective of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 is to provide for a modern, efficient, transparent and accountable system for the regulation of the medical profession, which will satisfy the public and the profession that all medical practitioners are appropriately qualified and competent to practise in a safe manner on an ongoing basis. Key areas addressed in the Act include registration, maintenance of professional competence, fitness to practise procedures and new provisions for supervising education & training at basic and specialist level. The Act provides for a Medical Council and Fitness to Practise Committee comprising a majority of persons who are not medical practitioners and for Fitness to Practise inquiries to be held in public.