Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

232. To ask the Minister for Health when the Patient Safety Agency's work with the Health Service Executive and the State Claims Agency to develop a risk-based approach to provision of indemnity to services and professionals was completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31723/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Action 7.3.1 of the Health Reform Programme is that the Department of Health will work with the HSE and the State Claims Agency to develop a risk based approach to provision of indemnity to services and professionals.

The State underwrites indemnity for all public services and the professionals who provide them. In effect, this means that the State carries the risk of services which may not be safe or which do not align with national policy goals. This system of enterprise liability is managed through the Clinical Indemnity Scheme. My Department is working with the HSE and the State Claims Agency (which operates the Clinical Indemnity Scheme) to ensure that the indemnity provided to services aligns with health systems policy. The Patient Safety Agency has not yet been established, but this does not hamper the development of the risk-based approach to the provision of indemnity.

The first stage in this process is the development and operation of a new upgraded database system, developed by the State Claims Agency, which will capture information on adverse events. The National Adverse Event Management System (NAEMS) went live in 119 State authorities under the remit of the State Claims Agency on 16 June, 2014 and since that date all incidents from the HSE are held on the new upgraded system. The system is being rolled out initially over the coming months, with training being provided to its users.

Agreement will be reached by the end of 2014 between the State Claims Agency, the HSE's Patient Safety Directorate and my Department on the criteria for enabling this system to provide end to end adverse event management, root cause analysis and policy audit tools. This will, in turn, allow for the development of performance benchmarks on clinical and non-clinical risks and claims performance, which will underpin a risk pooling approach to the Clinical Indemnity Scheme.