Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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147. To ask the Minister for Health the extent of investment in modern technology within the health service over the past six years to date; his plans for investment in this area with particular reference to enhancing the efficiency of services in all hospitals throughout the country to ensure a seamless service is provided to patients; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31168/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I presume the Deputy is referring to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in his question. The potential that technology offers to improve patient safety and to enhance the delivery of health services in Ireland is recognised by the Government. The table below shows the outturn for ICT since 2011 in capital and revenue expenditure. Current expenditure in relation to ICT developments is focussed on a wide range of systems including infrastructural support projects, patient administration systems as well as new critical developments such as the national laboratory information systems (LIMS), the Maternal and New Born Clinical Management System, the Medical Oncology Management Systems and a new financial management system.

My Department has undertaken a number of initiatives to enable improvement in the use and application of eHealth and ICT technology in healthcare. In 2013, the Government published an eHealth Strategy for Ireland which set out a digital path for health services improvements. The main objective of the eHealth strategy is to ensure a national approach to ICT and eHealth initiatives. As part of that strategy, an Office of the Chef Information Officer has been established along with the entity ‘eHealth Ireland’within the HSE structure to progress the eHealth agenda. The strategy sets out a number of enablers to progress eHealth including the setting up of an eHealth Advisory Committee for the HSE, an Irish eHealth ecosystem and the development of a system of health identifiers underpinned by the Health Identifiers Act, 2014. This Act gives the legal basis for the development and the deployment of identifiers that will cover patients, health care organisations and professionals in the health service. The development and the deployment of the Individual Health Identifier will be a significant patient safety initiative along with being a key enabler for eHealth deployments.

The HSE recently developed a business case for an Electronic Health Record (EHR) for Ireland which is a plan for a consistent and sustained investment over a number of years in technology across the continuum of healthcare in the acute, primary and community sectors. The aim of this plan is to ensure that the right information, about the right patient is available wherever required, in a safe and secure environment. It is envisaged, if the plan proceeds, that the New Children’s Hospital will be the initial site for implementation of an EHR in an acute setting thus providing a paper ‘lite’ digital hospital. In developing a national electronic health record we must build on the progress to date in ICT deployment but also the lessons learnt from other jurisdictions in developing an optimum solution for Ireland. This programme, if progressed, will require a substantial investment in ICT and it also offers the opportunity for re-configuration of services with the potential of a safer, patient centred and more integrated approach along with significant efficiencies. My Department is currently assessing the EHR programme and engaging with stakeholders on how to further progress this programme of work.