Mary Harney remarkably did not use a computer during her time as Minister for Health. Yet her tenure marked the period when voices calling for IT to transform healthcare delivery became louder.
At the end of 2009, the then Minister received a
report by the Healthcare ICT Industry Group titled ICT’s Role in Healthcare Transformation. The report asked that the Government prioritise and
resource a modern IT-enabled healthcare system, with leadership coming from the
Minister for Health. It also called for the HSE to triple its expenditure on
healthcare IT over the next three years, from 0.75 per cent to 2.25 per cent.
It
also recommended that a unique health identifier and a national electronic
health record (EHR) system spanning primary and acute care be implemented
within three years.
“These
systems offer major benefits in terms of patient safety, healthcare quality, chronic
disease management and financial effectiveness,” according to the report.
“They
are the essential building blocks for future healthcare ICT systems.”
Progress
on these issues has been painfully slow. It was not until the publication of
the e-health strategy in 2013, and Mr Richard Corbridge’s appointment as the
health service’s first Chief Information Officer in 2014, that some momentum
began to be achieved. In his time in the role, Mr Corbridge oversaw many
projects that advanced the HSE’s digital capability.
May
2017 saw the commencement orders for the individual health identifier (IHI)
signed by the Minister for Health Simon Harris. This was to allow for the
operational use of the IHI throughout the Irish healthcare system in line with
the terms of the Health Identifiers Act 2014. However, the use of IHIs is still
not widespread.
A
business case for an EHR was submitted in 2016. This document outlined the need
for investment of up to €875 million over a 10-year period to deliver such a
system across the Irish health service.
Approval
for a national EHR has still not been received, despite progress being made in
the area. Last year, Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) became the first
site to launch MN-CMS [Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management system] in a
national project that will introduce an electronic health record across all 19
maternity hospitals in Ireland.
There
is still no word about when the national EHR will be implemented. The
Department has advised the HSE to revise the business case due to concerns
about the costs involved. In an interview in this issue of the Medical
Independent, Mr Corbridge said the 2016 submission is
now out of date, given how rapidly technology changes occur within the field.
He
also expressed scepticism about the creation of a new position, HSE Director of
Digital Transformation and Open Innovation, in addition to the CIO, which is
filled currently on an interim basis, thereby effectively splitting his old
role in two.
At
the beginning of a new decade, it is important that the Department of Health
and the HSE ensure the health service has an IT infrastructure befitting the
modern world we live in.
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