Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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380. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to introduce a statutory duty of candour which will place a legal obligation on medical professionals to disclose negligence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31077/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My Department is committed to a set of patient safety reforms which are being led by the newly established National Patient Safety Office. One of these reforms will see legislation brought forward which will support a culture of open disclosure within the health services. This builds on the current HSE policy which has been in place since 2013, under which all employees, including medical staff, are required to disclose and report incidents in line with the HSE's Safety Incident Management Policy. Provisions to support open disclosure to patients have been included in the Department of Justice and Equality's Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017. As the Deputy may be aware, this Bill is currently making its way through the Oireachtas, and was considered at Committee stage on 30 June last.

Creating a culture of open disclosure and learning from the things that go wrong is the bedrock of making systems safer. 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'.

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. The intent of the legislation currently under consideration is to provide certain legal protections for healthcare staff for open disclosure. This will give further support to those staff in their communications with patients and family members if an adverse event occurs. The Ethical Code of Practice set out by the Medical Council also makes clear the responsibilities of doctors in relation to open disclosure, to support and promote a culture of candour, within which open disclosure can take place.

Reporting of adverse events is also part of a strong patient safety culture. The Department of Health and the HSE are working to strengthen the reporting of incidents when they occur, to ensure that the needs of patients who have been affected are catered for and to allow for the system as a whole to learn from the particular episode. The Health Information and Patient Safety Bill, which is at an advanced stage, will contain provisions on mandatory reporting of a prescribed list of very significant adverse events in the public and private healthcare sector.

The open disclosure provisions form part of a number of initiatives to improve the management of patient safety incidents. HIQA and the Mental Health Commission have recently finalised new Standards on the Conduct of Reviews of Patient Safety Incidents which expand on the National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare. This set of standards along with the mandatory reporting of serious reportable events provided for in the Health Information and Patient Safety Bill and the provisions intended for open disclosure will provide a comprehensive patient-centred approach to preventing, managing and learning from incidents.