Donnelly hopes to 'embed culture of open disclosure' in Irish health and social sectors

The Health Minister has launched a public consultation on open disclosure in the Irish healthcare and social care sectors. 

According to Minister Stephen Donnelly, the public will consult on a draft national policy framework for disclosure in the sectors as recommended by the Independent Patient Safety Council. 

Speaking today (August 29), Minister Donnelly said the government is "committed" to improving the quality and safety of services. 

He said, "Open disclosure is an open, consistent, compassionate and timely approach to communicating with patients and families when something goes wrong with their care. 

"We all agree that patients and families have a right to know what happened in the course of their care, why it happened and what action is being taken to reduce the risk of the same incident occurring in the future." 

Feedback from the consultation will reportedly inform critical aspects of the framework, which will impact on a wide range of stakeholders across the sectors including providers, regulators, educators and others. 

The final version of the framework is expected to be published later this year. 

Minister Donnelly continued: "While we know the health and social care system has made significant changes to improve communication with patients following patient safety incidents, this framework once finalised, will help to embed a culture of open disclosure by default within the health and social care sector.

"I’m pleased to launch this public consultation on the draft framework and look forward to hearing peoples’ views." 

Public consultation is available here.