Parliamentary Question addressed to the Minister for Health

To ask the Minister for Health if Individual Health Identifiers have been provided to patients accessing health and social care services; and the services that are using Individual Health Identifiers.
                                                                                          
To ask the Minister for Health if Individual Health Identifiers will be used by Health Service Executive staff based in community health centres.

The Health Identifiers Act 2014, which is primarily a patient safety initiative but also an important foundation step for the development of eHealth system, provides for the establishment of systems of identifiers for patients and healthcare providers, both professionals and organisations.

The Act provides that operational responsibility for the identifiers may be assigned to the HSE. It is intended that the register of Individual Health Identifiers will be implemented first, only after commencement of the Act, and this will allow for identifiers to be assigned to individual patients. The identifiers will be used in both the public and private healthcare settings, including community health centres managed by HSE staff.

Preparations for the implementation of the Individual Health Identifier are at an advanced stage by the HSE. The necessary management and organisational structures to enable the establishment of the register are currently being put in place. A development plan is being drafted along with a Privacy Impact Assessment which is nearing completion. 

With the initial completion of the register the next phase will be to allow for other health care ICT systems in both primary and acute care to access the register and make it available as the Act permits. The work will be done on a phased basis over a number of years. Access to the register of individual health identifiers and the use to which the identifier can be put is strictly controlled by the Act. It is intended to be widely used in health and social care settings throughout the health services to enhance patient safety and underpin efficiency. The Commencement Order which is necessary for the formal commencement of the relevant provisions in the Act for this stage of the implementation process, and which is drafted by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel in conjunction with my Department, is currently being finalised.

HIQA have recently engaged in a public consultation exercise on “Draft Governance and Management Standards for Health Identifiers Operator in Ireland” which will assist in underpinning a governance framework for the operation of the system of identifiers to ensure trust and confidence of the health identifiers system in the country. It is important to point out that the roll out of a system of health identifiers for patients, professionals and organisations has no linkage with any eligibility for any type of health service or benefit.