Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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56. To ask the Minister for Health if the process in which the State deals with medical negligence cases will be reviewed, given a number of recent high profile cases which have highlighted the prolonged suffering of families who were victims of negligence, due to lengthy court cases and delays in apologies being issued; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42842/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The management of clinical negligence cases taken against the HSE is delegated to the State Claims Agency (SCA) which has a statutory mandate to investigate and manage these cases to completion. I am advised that the SCA, wherever it is proper to do so, based on expert medical and legal advice, admits breach of duty at the earliest possible opportunity to avoid distress to patients and their families. Many of these cases however, particularly those involving catastrophic injuries, are very complex in nature and require time to investigate the liability and causation issues. This inevitably involves some delay before a formal admission of liability, if appropriate, can be made.

A suite of reform measures is currently being advanced by the Government which will result in a positive impact on the tort system and the management of clinical negligence claims. The Government agreed also in October that there will be a review of the State Claims Agency and how claims are handled. The review will be undertaken by the Department of Finance as it has overall responsibility for the State Claims Agency. It is expected that the terms of reference for this review will be drawn up shortly.