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

347. To ask the Minister for Health the percentage of serious reportable events being notified within 24 hours to a designated officer. [51186/17]

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

348. To ask the Minister for Health the percentage of mandatory investigations that commence within 48 hours of the events occurring. [51187/17]

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

349. To ask the Minister for Health the percentage of mandatory investigations that are completed within four months of notification of the events occurring. [51188/17]

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

350. To ask the Minister for Health the percentage of reportable events in 2017 that were reported within 30 days of occurrence to the designated officer. [51189/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 347 to 350, inclusive, together.

As these are service matters the questions have been referred to the HSE for attention and direct reply to the Deputy.

The Department of Health takes the management of patient safety very seriously and the establishment of the National Patient Safety Office (NPSO) is just one of a number of patient safety reforms agreed by Government in November 2015. The Officeis overseeing a programme of patient safety measures including progressing a programme of legislation. The General Scheme of the Health Information and Patient Safety Bill approved by Government in November 2015 provides for the extension of the Health Information and Quality Authority’s (HIQA’s) remit to the private sector, mandatory external reporting of Serious Reportable Events and measures to promote clinical audit. The Bill has undergone pre-legislative scrutiny (PLS) with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and the PLS Report is currently being considered by the Department. The Patient Safety Licencing Bill will introduce a regulatory regime for all hospitals as well as certain designated high risk activities. The Department of Justice and Equality’s Civil Liability Amendment Act 2017 includes provision for the open disclosure of patient safety incidents.

In addition, on 25 October 2017, I launched the National Standards on the Conduct of Reviews of Patient Safety Incidents. These standards, developed jointly by HIQA and the Mental Health Commission, set out a new approach to the way health providers respond to, review and investigate incidents in order to determine as quickly as possible what may have transpired, and why, to ensure that they can immediately implement any improvements necessary to prevent a re-occurrence.

Finally, it is my understanding that the Health Service Executive (HSE) is currently finalising the review of its Safety Incident Management Policy.