Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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258. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 386 of 14 April 2016, and given the €38.3 million the State spent on legal fees related to maternity services between 2007 and 2015 and the €58 million in paid plaintiff costs, if he will introduce a statutory duty of candour on the part of clinicians, which would reduce the incidence of adversarial and costly legal actions. [12011/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Government is proposing a broad package of reforms aimed at improving the experience of people who are affected by adverse events, especially those adverse events resulting in catastrophic birth injuries. This package involves a range of tort reforms and patient safety initiatives. These add to the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 which provides for pre-action protocols, which will shorten the time that it takes for claims to be processed through the courts.

The Civil Liability(Amendment) Bill, currently being drafted, will give the legislative base to introduce Periodic Payment Orders, which provide for index-linked annual payments to cover future care costs of catastrophically injured persons. This Bill is under the aegis of the Minister for Justice and Equality. The previous Government gave its approval on 3rd November, 2015 to the drafting of provisions to support open disclosure of patient safety incidents, for inclusion in the Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill. The provisions to support open disclosure are also currently being drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel.

Open disclosure is about 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.

Under the proposed legislation open disclosure will have certain specified legal protections on the civil side, when made in line with national standards. This approach is intended to promote and support a culture of open disclosure. This legislation builds on the joint development by the HSE and State Claims Agency of the National Policy on Open Disclosure (2013). The HSE is progressing the implementation of the Policy across all health and social care services. We all know that when error or harm is experienced by a patient, the trust and confidence of that patient and their family are compromised. That is why honest, open disclosure and communication, which demonstrate empathy and sensitivity, are so essential.

I am proposing separate legislation to provide for the mandatory external reporting of Serious Reportable Events, that is, the most serious incidents that cause harm or could have caused harm to patients. This requirement for health service providers to report these events to the State Claims Agency, HIQA and the Mental Health Commission will be included in the Health Information and Patient Safety Bill.