David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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795. To ask the Minister for Health the measures taken in 2020 to improve ehealth and ICT systems; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36792/20]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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796. To ask the Minister for Health the measures to be taken in 2021 to improve ehealth and ICT systems; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36793/20]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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797. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated timeline and cost of completing upgrading and modernisation of HSE ICT and procurement systems; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36794/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 795 to 797, inclusive, together.

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an increased focus in 2020 on deployment of eHealth initiatives to support both acute and community care. Within weeks of the first wave of the pandemic, solutions such as telehealth and electronic transfer of prescriptions were implemented, followed shortly afterwards by the COVID Tracker app, designed to support contact tracing.

The COVID Tracker App was developed to provide people with information about the rate of spread of infection, to enable them to self report symptoms and to alert them of close contacts with others who have since been diagnosed Covid positive. The app was the result fo close collaboration and joint development between the  Department of Health, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, the HSE, the innovation unit at An Garda Síochána, Science Foundation Ireland and academia, working closely with technical partners from the private sector including Nearform (a Waterford based app development company), Apple and Google.  By international comparison, it has been very successful with over 2 million downloads and more than 1.3 million active users.

The HSE developed an enterprise wide CRM solution to manage and track COVID patients as they move through the COVID care pathway. This is the 'radar' system that enables the health system to manage patient calls to the call center and interactions at test centres, assessment hubs and other covid related facilities.

The clinical management of COVID care has been assisted by the implementation of:

- electronic ordering of COVID tests and electronic tracking and reporting of results;

- remote working on a large scale by non-patient facing staff;

- provision of electronic aids to nursing homes and hospitals to help with restricted visiting regimes and enabling patients to stay connected to their families and friends;

- system and technology deployments to support acute ICU care and community-based services for COVID-19;

- communication system upgrades. 

The Department of Health and the Health Service Executive (HSE) are currently examining the role eHealth and ICT will have to support post-2020 COVID health management activities.  Of immediate priority is the need for systems to support the administration of the Covid vaccine when it becomes available but there will be many other ICT enabled covid actions to be addressed.

Whilst non-COVID eHealth and ICT supportive projects and programmes are also being examined, many of those activities complement the COVID response and the Sláintecare reform programme. 

eHealth and ICT Initiatives for 2021 are currently being factored into the HSE service plan for 2021, that is scheduled to be submitted the Department by the end of November.