David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

669. To ask the Minister for Health if he will outline the use of unique patient identifiers in the healthcare system; his plans to increase and expand the use of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35400/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Individual Health Identifier (IHI) was used extensively during the pandemic and indeed everyone who received a Covid vaccination in Ireland had their IHI assigned to the vaccination record created for them at the time.  This enabled the linking of records as people received multiple vaccinations (two doses for primary vaccination plus subsequent booster) and will continue to be of value as future boosters are offered to people. There were a lot of valuable lessons learned as the health system deployed the IHI at scale, including the importance of recording mobile numbers, email address and EIRCODE as part of the supporting IHI dataset and the significance of PPSNs as a means for people to readily identify their corresponding IHI number. Indeed the upcoming Health Information Bill will promote the PPSN as the primary identifier for citizens using the health service with the IHI embedded within the healthcare records themselves, as recommended by HIQA. Experience from the pandemic, and the national vaccination programme, has proven that the PPSN (along with name and date of birth) is the simplest way for health service providers to allocate an IHI to a clinical record. PPSNs and photo identification were used to identify users of the national vaccination programme.  It provided a robust mechanism of allocating Individual Health Identifiers and subsequently issuing Digital COVID-19 Certificates (DCCs), to all those who received a vaccination. As a process, this is a potential basis for further deployments to GP systems, hospital Patient Appointment Systems (PAS) and the national maternity system in 2022.

Deployment of eHealth solutions and the joining up of health records from across the health system also requires the deployment of individual health identifiers (IHI).

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

670. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to improve electronic or digitised patient record systems and greater sharing of such records between primary, community and acute healthcare providers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35401/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This week (July 4th 2022) the Department of Health secured approval from Government to enter into contracts for the delivery of an enterprise level Electronic Health Record System for the New Children’s Hospital. This will enable the facility to open as a digital hospital and represent a significant step forward in the journey towards achieving digitised patient record systems and enabling greater sharing of such records between care providers that are based in different healthcare settings. The implementation of an EHR at CHI follows previous deployment of EHR system in Ireland and builds on the success of the electronic health record programmes at the country’s largest maternity hospitals and at St James’s Hospital in Dublin.

Since 2022, contracts are also in place for the delivery of clinical management systems capable of delivering electronic health records for patients at the new National Rehabilitation and National Forensics Hospitals.

Also in 2022, market soundings were completed for a suitable patient management systems across the community healthcare setting and a public spending code compliant business case will be developed to secure sanction for investment in this important area. 

The Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management System (MN-CMS), which generates electronic health records for newborn babies and their mothers, is now well established. It has now been implemented in CUH, University Hospital Kerry, The Rotunda Hospital and National Maternity Hospital, resulting in more than 40% of babies born in Ireland having an EHR created at birth. Approval has been provided for deployment to the Coombe Women’s Hospital and the maternity hospital at University Hospital Limerick and these sites are scheduled to go live in 2022 and 2023. This will result in 70% of babies born in Ireland having electronic health records at birth. An approach to the wider deployment of EHRs at national, regional and local level will also be considered in the context of a refreshed eHealth Digital healthcare strategy, due later this year.

The National Integrated Medical Imaging System (NIMIS) captures images digitally for all major modalities at all major acute healthcare settings, which facilitates sharing of these images regardless of where a patient if being treated.

Combined with widespread adoption of practice management systems at GP surgeries and community pharmacy systems, where patient medical information is stored in digital format, and the national digital messaging systems 'Healthlink' for sharing of clinical information, Ireland is certainly in a better position that it was just a few years ago. Nonetheless, sustained investment and focus is required to get to where we need to be, whereby digital records become the norm across the Irish health system, and where systems can share the information more easily so that healthcare professionals can access and update the information they need for the patient they are treating, safely and securely. Based on experience from other countries that have more digitally mature health systems, we expect that will require an ongoing commitment in terms of funding and resources in the short, medium and long term.