Open disclosure commencement
Deputy Micheál Martin pressed for commencement of Part 4 of the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act on open disclosure, arguing delayed commencement made the law ineffective. The Taoiseach said it was due to commence in June and stressed that training and guidelines were also needed; the exchange briefly degenerated into cross-talk about CervicalCheck.
We have 30 minutes for this and we already have 26 Deputies offering. I call Deputy Micheál Martin.
Comment on this
Regarding the issue of open disclosure, which was at the heart of the CervicalCheck scandal, the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act was passed in 2017. Part 4 of the Act concerned the facilitation of full open disclosure by medical personnel in our hospitals and in our health service generally. The Act has not yet been commenced. It is a very poor reflection on the Government that we pass legislation and the delay in then commencing the relevant legislation means very little happens. Will the Taoiseach indicate to me when he expects Part 4 of the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act to be commenced and also when the patient safety Bill will be brought before the House?
Comment on this
Section 4 of the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act, which was just passed last November, is due to be commenced this month, in June. I will have to check with the Minister for Justice and Equality if it is still on schedule but I have not heard otherwise. It is necessary to do more than pass laws. Open disclosure requires guidelines for staff and training. This is why a commencement order was put on it. One of the many things we have learned from the CervicalCheck controversy is that it is not as simple as policies and laws. A process of open disclosure was embarked on very slowly in respect of CervicalCheck but was mishandled. It was not clear who was to do the telling, for example. The information was passed on to clinicians. One quarter passed it on to the patients; three quarters did not. This one example shows why we need to do much more than just pass new laws; we actually need to train staff and have very clear guidelines as to who is supposed to do what and when.
Comment on this
CervicalCheck did not want to tell the patients.