Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-04
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Without question, there should be no cover-up in respect of any medical misadventure, any error or any wrongdoing. Hospitals and the medical community should own up immediately. That is good practice. It is unacceptable that for decades many families have had to go long periods endeavouring to find out the full truth in respect of what happened to their loved ones.
The Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023, landmark patient safety legislation, was commenced in September 2024. It provides a legislative framework for a number of important patient safety issues, including the mandatory open disclosure of a list of specified serious patient safety incidents that must be disclosed to the patient and to their family. It was passed by both Houses and signed by the President in May 2023. It is to ensure that families and patients have access to comprehensive and timely information.
It is achieved by an open disclosure mechanism in the Act. It contributes to embedding a culture whereby clinicians in the health service as a whole engage openly, transparently and compassionately with patients and their families. The requirements apply to all healthcare bodies, including the HSE, all section 38 and section 39 organisations, private hospitals and private health and social care providers, such as GPs, dentists and pharmacists. The Act contains a provision by which the Minister can add to this list via regulation. Patients and their families must have access, as I have said, to comprehensive and timely information, including an apology where appropriate.
We have seen good examples recently from the chief executive officer, Bernard Gloster, who in a number of cases has changed the culture, it would appear to me, come forward, identified clear faults, and apologised himself publicly on behalf of the HSE in respect of significant wrongdoing and errors that have been made. The HSE has updated its national open disclosure policy. The Department and the HSE, in consultation with stakeholders, are currently finalising a revised HSE incident management framework that sets out how serious incidents are reviewed and learned from.
I am told that the Act was commenced, other than section 68. I do not have the specifics around that section with me, but that is what I have been told and the information I have here. The implementation of the Clarke report into the tragic death of Aoife Johnston at University Hospital Limerick also brought forward a number of significant improvements, supporting the implementation of key initiatives, such as the framework for safe nurse staffing and skill mix, the emergency medicine early warning system, updated sepsis guidelines and a new national quality improvement framework for emergency department triage and local escalation plans.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:35+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-04