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A brief thread on Individual Healh Identifiers (IHI) and why we need this *urgently* in the Irish Health System. IHIs are a way of efficiently linking together a persons interactions with every aspect of healthcare-porimary care, pharmacy, community, hospitals. From birth onwards
IHIs are an important quality improvement initiative, they allow audits, mean results don't fall through loops in complex systems. When used linked to patient portals they can empower patients to access their records
Advocacy for IHI in Ireland dates back several decades and was a key recommendation in the excellent 2001 Quality and Fairness Report comisisoned by @MichealMartinTD https://assets.gov.ie/16426/b054da11d8544bc9b3c824fbe8b87b5b.pdf
This was further advanced in the 2004 National Health Information Strategy https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/5862/1/DOHC_health_information_strategy.pdf
And reviewed extensively by @HIQA in 2009 https://www.hiqa.ie/sites/default/files/2017-02/Unique_Health_Identifier_Report%20(1).pdf and 2010 https://www.hiqa.ie/sites/default/files/2017-02/International-Review-of-Unique-Health-Identifiers-for-Individuals.pdf
The formal bill was passed in 2014 http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2014/act/15/
WIth commencement orders in process from 2017 http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/isbc/2014_15.html
Ireland is global tech capital, we produce amazing graduates, host the EMEA HQ for most of the top 20 tech industries. We can do this!
As we roll out a mass vaccination programme there is no doubt that an IHI would be amazing digital spine to focus on. It would make the program safer and more efficient. Countries like Israel, the UK and Denmark have a massive advantage in this respect.
The time has come to do this. Let's get cross party agreement, dedicated funding and rapidly deliver an IHI for Ireland @DonnellyStephen
@davidcullinane
@davidcullinane
