Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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250. To ask the Minister for Health if he supports legislating for a statutory provision which would allow medical practitioners to make an apology and explanation without these being construed as an admission of liability in a medical negligence claim; if such a statutory provision will be included in the proposed Health Information Bill; if he will prioritise its introduction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6131/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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In November 2013, the HSE launched the National Open Disclosure Policy, Guidelines and supporting documents following on from a joint HSE/State Claims Agency national pilot project in relation to Open Disclosure. Open Disclosure is defined as “an open consistent approach to communicating with patients and their families when things go wrong in healthcare. This includes expressing regret for what has happened, keeping the patient informed, providing feedback on investigations and the steps taken to prevent a recurrence of the adverse event.”

This National Policy is in line with one of the key recommendations of the Madden Report, which was the development and support of a culture of open disclosure to patients and their next-of-kin, following an adverse event resulting in harm to a patient. At the moment, Ireland has no express protective legislation to assist the open disclosure process. However, it is intended that the upcoming Health Information Bill will contain provisions in it to afford some degree of protection for healthcare personnel in line with the Madden Report. This is also consistent with a recommendation in a consultation paper published by The Law Reform Commission in 2008 that “a statutory provision be considered which would allow medical practitioners to make an apology and explanation without these being construed as an admission of liability in a medical negligence claim”.