Call for ID numbers to improve patient safety
Every person in the country should be issued with an identification number to track them through the health system throughout their life, experts said today.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) said more must be done to ensure patient safety by linking information across the health and social care sector.
It believes an Unique Health Identifier (UHI) number will avert tragedies and reduce the need for the repetition of tests, cutting costs and resources in the long run.
HIQA’s Professor Jane Grimson said it is essential patients can be identified uniquely and clearly in order to provide high quality and reliable health care and ensure maximum patient safety.
“At the moment in Ireland there is no reliable method of tracking a patient through the healthcare system,” said Prof Grimson.
“Currently, healthcare services rely on matching names, addresses and date of birth, none of which are reliable or recorded in a standard format. This poses a substantial risk to the safe delivery of services.
“Our primary concern is patient safety, and this is one area where immediate action is needed.
“It is clear from recent reports that tragedies could have been averted if only the health and social care services had a clearer sense of the contacts between the family and State services and a better, safer use of information about such patients.
“This is just one example of how a UHI can improve safety.”
HIQA revealed a recent study showed 94% of people wanted their medical information to be accessible by emergency medical staff with a further 86% stating their desire for health information to be joined up across the system.
But it warned it is equally important to develop a system that appropriately balances patient safety and privacy concerns.
In its report, HIQA also estimated it will cost just under €16m to issue 4.2 million people with a UHI card and up to €30m to set up a central authority to run the system.
Prof Grimson said it has made its recommendations to Health Minister Mary Harney, who has established a group representing the key stakeholders, chaired by the Department, to finalise policy in relation to the UHI.
