Setting out a new IT strategy for the health service will be a key target for the HSE’s new chief information officer when he takes up his post next month, according to Minister for Health Leo Varadkar.
Richard Corbridge will join the HSE from the NHS National Institute for Health Research. Implementing the Government’s ehealth strategy will be among his responsibilities.
Ireland spends just 0.85 per cent of its health budget on IT, compared with an EU range of 2–3 per cent. Asked whether he would increase this to support the governance and delivery of the Government’s ehealth strategy, Varadkar said that once the new IT strategy for the HSE had been finalised, “we will have a clearer picture of the level of investment needed”.
“We do know that the National Children’s Hospital, the new financial operating model, the unique health identifier project, laboratory and other hospital systems will require significant capital investment.
“However, the 2015 Budget includes a significant boost of €15 million in capital funding for IT, on top of the current allocation of €40 million.”
Varadkar answered questions on his ehealth strategy ahead of a conference in Dublin yesterday.
Digital supply chain
In the Government strategy, ehealth is described as a fully integrated digital supply chain, involving “high levels of automation and information sharing”.
It involves making accurate information about every patient available when and where it is needed, eliminating duplication, increasing patient safety and improving, for example, the management of chronic illnesses.
On the immediate challenges for the new chief information officer, Varadkar said information technology was “a hugely important area of the health service”.
“Yet too often it’s been overlooked. If you think about it, we have a health system that has multiple IT systems, many of which cannot communicate with each other. In any sector of the economy this would make no sense. But from the point of view of the patient, this is something that clearly needs to be addressed.”
He said the increase in the capital budget would allow the Government “to finally start investing in IT and put a more coherent structure in place”.
“It’s going to take a lot of time, work and energy, but hopefully it will yield the right results for patients and for the health service.”
Timeframes for the implementation of crucial parts of the ehealth strategy, such as the implementation of individual health identifiers for patients, have yet to be provided, but the enabling legislation for those was passed in July.
The Minister said one of the most important IT projects for the next few years will be the health identifier.
“The goal is to give every patient a unique number, like a social security number. When up and running, the unique health identifier will allow patients and medical personnel to have access to a full range of medical records for one individual. It should bring an end to the problems of old or lost records.”
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Elaine Edwards
Quelle/Source: The Irish Times, 24.11.2014
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