Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

642. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 307 of 9 February 2023, if he will provide additional details in relation to his update on recommendation 9(ii) regarding altering medical records; the meaning of associated arrangements; if he intends to bring forward separate legislation to make it a criminal offence to alter medical records with the intent to mislead or deceive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8477/23]

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

I have no plans to bring forward legislation pending further consideration of this recommendation, which needs to be considered in a broader context,  reflecting the actual and planned changes to how the Health Services engages with patients following an adverse safety incident. 

The Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019 provides a legislative framework for a number of important patient safety issues, including the mandatory open disclosure of a list of specified serious patient safety incidents that must be disclosed to the patient and/or their family. A key provision of the Patient Safety Bill is to ensure that patients and their families have access to comprehensive and timely information, including an apology where appropriate, in relation to serious patient safety incidents. This contributes to embedding a culture whereby clinicians, and the health service as a whole, engage openly, transparently, and compassionately with patients and their families when things go wrong.

Additionally, policy work on complaints and incident management processes has commenced. Also under consideration is the need to provide for a complaints pathway across all health and social care services, both public and private services, and the possible need to provide a statutory basis for the conduct and/or commissioning of patient safety incident reviews, across public and private health services

While it is the case that any relevance of this policy work for the specific recommendation would have to be considered on completion, they will change the context within which the recommendation is considered. 

Additionally, Government recently approved the establishment of an Interdepartmental Working Group to examine the rising cost of health-related claims and consider mechanisms to reduce costs. The Group will recommend measures to address patient concerns following incidents, (e.g., disclosure procedures, trauma counselling, provision of supports) that will reduce the need for patients to initiate legal proceedings, and also examine the health system’s involvement in the claims process, in particular its role in the provision of evidence/medical records in the course of discovery with a view to streamlining processes. The Group will be receiving updates on the implementation of the recommendations set out in the Meenan Report.