Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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695. To ask the Minister for Health if she will provide an update on procurement and implementation of national shared care records; the timeline she is working towards in rolling out this platform; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9367/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The HSE have now completed the procurement process for the National Shared Care Record (NSCR) technology platform. The final details on the contract are currently being agreed and this work will complete in the coming weeks.

Work to configure the NSCR technology platform will commence as soon as contracts are signed and will be an ongoing development exercise as we expand the capability and the datasets managed through the NSCR.

The HSE is working through an initial release of the NSCR, albeit targeted at one health regions initially, by the end of 2025/ Q1 2026.

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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696. To ask the Minister for Health if she will provide an update on the delivery of electronic health records; the timeline she is working towards in rolling out this platform; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9368/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Digital for Care: A Digital Health Framework for Ireland 2024-2030 has been developed to reflect the rapidly changing landscape of health and social care in Ireland. The framework sets out a clear roadmap for investment in digital health and delivery of electronic health record systems (EHRs). In tandem, the HSE’s Digital Health Strategic Implementation Roadmap details out the specifics and sequencing of the roadmap and confirm the necessary support required to realise this intent.

The Programme for Government underlines this ambition to continue to work towards the full digitisation of Irish healthcare records and information systems.

Access to digital health records has been a long-sought objective in Irish healthcare for many years. To date, the Health Service has rolled out a number of electronic health record (EHR) systems in different sites in recent years. These include the National Rehabilitation Hospital, the National Forensic Mental Health Service, St. James Hospital, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, roll-out across the bigger Maternity Hospitals extending EHR coverage to 70% of births nationally by the end of 2025. The National Children’s Hospital EHR deployment will be the most comprehensive EHR deployment in the state when the hospital is commissioned.

Ireland needs one digital health record for every citizen that can be access by health professionals across the service. To achieve this, we are following a three-step approach: delivering the HSE Health App, developing a National Shared Care Record (NSCR), and regional deployments of enterprise level Electronic Health Record systems that span acute and community healthcare, following a similar approach that is currently being pursued across Northern Ireland.

The release of the HSE Health App to the public on 25th February 2025 marks an exciting early milestone in our journey to digitise patient health records and is designed to provide a simple and secure way for patients to access to some of their personal health information. The release will be followed by three planned release updates in 2025 to widen functionality and access to patient data.

In parallel to this the HSE have now completed the procurement process for the NSCR tech platform, with contracts in place in the coming weeks. The NSCR is a significant initiative aimed at transforming patient care in Ireland by providing a comprehensive, secure, and accessible digital platform for health information. The NSCR will be built and configured over the course of 2025.

My Department and the HSE are currently developing a business case for a national Electronic Health Record system, deployed on a regional basis, which will be sent to Government for consideration in the coming months.

These three initiatives will be supported by the Health Information Bill which provides the legislative basis for sharing digital health records in Ireland in order to enhance patient care as well as to improve patient access to and control over their own health data (to populate the Patient App , NSCR and EHRs).

The pace at which the HSE will deliver these programmes will depend on several critical factors, including the availability of dedicated funding and resources. Sustained investment from 2025 to 2030 will be required to realise the framework.

Based on experience from other countries, the timeline for regional deployments of enterprise level EHR systems across the state is extensive and can only start once approvals are in place and procurements are complete. The deployment will start with the one health region, with subsequent regions following and building momentum as they move from region to region. As the preliminary business case is developed, we will be looking at any and all opportunities to accelerate deployment.

With increased digital funding allocated to accelerate the pace of roll-out and implementation of digital health capabilities, Ireland can leverage the many benefits electronic health records offers from improving the quality of healthcare, equipping our healthcare workforce with the necessary digital capabilities to increase productivity and efficiency while enabling the health service plan for our future health needs.