Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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1189. To ask the Minister for Health if consideration will be given to a recent suggestion from a leading oncologist to start using the vaccination ID for all hospital treatments, with a view to harmonising all health services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55266/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The need to uniquely and positively identify individuals was brought into sharp relief during the pandemic. The need to be certain who had been referred for testing, who had tested positive for Covid and who had received which vaccine, and when, was central to managing outbreaks and for reporting e progress of the national Covid vaccination programme.

During this time the HSE used a combination of Covid identifiers, the individual health identifier (IHI) established under the Health Identifiers Act (2015), the PPSN and hospital MRNs.  We presume the Deputy is referring to the Covid identifier, which was created specifically in response to the pandemic.

The implementation of an Individual Health Identifier (IHI) is a key part of the Government’s 

eHealth strategy and was used extensively during the pandemic. 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. The also facilitated the subsequent issuance of EU Digital Covid Certificates and compliance with the associated EU regulation. 

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 prople to identify themselves and the most effective 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.

In April 2022, Government approved the preparation of a General Scheme for a new Health Information Bill.  The Bill will provide a clear, certain and consistent legislative framework to underpin a fit for purpose health information system that will help deliver a modern integrated health service.  In that regard, it is envisaged that the Bill will include a provision that will facilitate the use the PPS number as the primary health identifier reflecting the reality that the health services do not exist in isolation from the wider public service ecosystem.  The forthcoming 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.