The creation of a “fit-for-purpose” digital health system should be funded from the €13 billion in back taxes owed to Ireland on foot of the recent European Court of Justice ruling, according to IHCA members.
At the Association’s recent annual conference and AGM in Kilkenny, members passed a motion welcoming “the provision of indicative timelines for the roll-out of digital health reforms by the Minister for Health”. It also noted that the “existing antiquated physical records model is deeply inefficient”.
As part of the motion, members urged the Government to “utilise funding from the Apple ruling to ensure a fit-for-purpose digital health system for Ireland”.
Separately, Mr Fran Thompson, HSE Chief Information Officer, has told the Medical Independent (MI) he believes most doctors are on board for digital transformation, describing them as “rightly impatient”.
“Most clinicians that I deal with on a day-to-day basis are really enthusiastic and want this to go faster,” he said. “They want a digital record; they understand the benefits of it.”
Regarding the often-cited slow pace of reform in digital health, Mr Thompson replied that he would “agree things haven’t moved fast enough”.
“But part of this is that it’s an enormous change programme and it needs to be done correctly,” he told MI. “But we are where we are, and we now need to move forward. So if we concentrate on the past, or we concentrate on what could have been done in a different way… that’s just going to distract from the real goal here, which is to get an electronic health record and digitise the health service.”
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