Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health, David Cullinane TD, has said that urgency is needed from the Minister for Health and government to finalise and enact the Patient Safety Bill to place mandatory open disclosure on a statutory footing this year.

Teachta Cullinane said:

“The Taoiseach made firm commitments yesterday that the Patient Safety Bill would be passed by the end of this year. 

“For that to happen, the Minister for Health needs to bring forward an amendment that would ensure mandatory open disclosure applies to incidents like the CervicalCheck scandal, which the current draft bill does not cover.

“The interim CEO of the HSE indicated this morning that there would be a meeting in the coming weeks involving the Chief Medical Officer to discuss clinical concerns with the Bill.

“To hear that there are still points of disagreement at this late stage is of concern, they should be ironed out by now. That meeting should happen this week.

“There are only a few short weeks before the current Dáil term ends and time is running out to pass the bill through the Dáil and the Seanad this year.

“It is crucial that this bill is agreed and passed by the end of the year. It has been three long years already since it was first proposed, and four years since Dr Scally’s final report was given to the Minister for Health.

“We want to work with government to get this over the line, but urgency is needed from the Minister and government. This cannot be allowed to slip.”