Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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2387.To ask the Minister for Health the timeline for publication of the Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill; the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32855/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The general scheme of the Bill was approved by Government on 12th December 2017. It underwent Pre-Legislative Scrutiny at the Oireachtas Joint Committee of Health on 13 June 2018, was subsequently referred to the Attorney General’s Office for drafting to be undertaken and currently remains with that Office.

Legislative priority was given to the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 which was enacted in May 2023. The Department continues to work on the Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill which will, for the first time, introduce a licensing requirement for all hospitals, public and private, and certain designated high-risk activities in the community.

The Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill is part of a suite of measures to improve patient safety. As noted above, the Department enacted the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 which provides the legislative framework for the extension of the Health Information Quality Authority's regulatory remit to private hospitals. This Act also includes provisions for the establishment of a legislative framework for mandatory open disclosure and reporting of designated serious patient safety incidents and, the provision of certain legislative protections for the conduct of clinical audit against explicit clinical standards on a national basis.