Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am of the view that all processing of patient data, including disclosure of and access to, must be necessary and proportionate and fully in compliance with the provisions of GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and any health related Regulations made under that Act. Under GDPR, transparency is now a core principle and health services providers should ensure that they have arrangements in place to meet that principle so that patients are aware of who may have access to their information and why, especially any third party access. That includes for billing purposes. My Department is currently finalising Regulations under section 36 of the Data Protection Act aimed at introducing further suitable and specific safeguards for the processing of personal data by health services providers.

My Department is also working on a new patient centred Health Information Policy and I plan to publish the results of the public consultation on the policy framework in the next couple of months.