Transforming Irish Healthcare: The Move to National Electronic Health Records (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: The Electronic Health Record. A resilient health system with us, its patients, at its centre. The Irish health system is mostly paper-based. This means that our health records are written on pages, in folders and files, which could be in many locations around the country. Many of us as patients have already experienced the limitations of this system. Waiting lists, difficult communication between departments, filling out form after form, missing appointments, limited access to our own information. Internationally, health systems have transformed by switching to digital records. Now the HSE, which is delivering eHealth Ireland, is taking the first steps to develop a National Electronic Health Record, EHR, a resilient health system with us, its patients, at its centre. With the digital system, we can say goodbye to many of the restrictions of the old system and welcome a new, modern system that will enable us, the patients and clients of the health service, to have full access to our own personal health information, facilitate collaborative working practices where different health professionals can work together in real time in order to provide each of us with the best care, enable fast access to services which will improve waiting lists and our care, and handle our information using the most advanced data security measures. After all, our health information is personal and private. Introducing EHR to the existing health system seems like a huge task, but already eHealth Ireland is inspired by and continues to learn from other countries' failures and successes, as well as Irish examples like Temple Street Children's Hospital and the Galway Clinic, where clinicians can access patients' records digitally. eHealth Ireland's team is committed to making EHR a success across Ireland.