Cost of moving to digital health records approaching €2bn, Dáil committee told

The Mercy Hospital has now begun offering virtual wards in 'good news' for patients in the area. Picture: Denis Scannell

The cost of moving to digital health is heading towards €2bn, including the patient app, virtual wards and eventually electronic health records, an Oireachtas committee has been told.

The Mercy Hospital in Cork has now joined University Hospital Limerick and St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin in offering virtual wards to help patients stay at home while monitored by medical staff.

The timeline for digital health records is becoming clearer, with a plan for the first HSE region to go live by 2029. Overall it could take a further six to seven years after that.

Progress was welcomed by committee members as the HSE and department of health officials shared updates.

HSE deputy chief executive Damien McCallion acknowledged the low base Ireland started from, saying: “Despite the significant digital infrastructure, Ireland has performed very poorly in EU rankings on digitisation of health records.” 

When Fianna Fáil TD Martin Daly compared the system to a non-league football team, Mr McCallion pointed out Wrexham FC had been written off but then achieved record league promotions in recent years.

He said six maternity hospitals now use digital records and the HSE patient app is now used by more than 120,000 people in all hospitals, with only two sites remaining unconnected to this.

Waterford and Wexford are now running a pilot scheme on shared care records. This will be rolled out nationally and means patients’ records are shared between GPs and hospitals in a precursor to full digitalisation.

Other changes have seen the Integrated Financial Management System launched for all of the HSE and an integrated staff records system.

Derek Tierney, assistant secretary for health infrastructure at the department, said it could not give precise estimates for overall costs as the procurement process continued.

However, responding to Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane, he said funding was ringfenced within the national development plan for all these digital changes.

“It is over the next five years, it is a multi-billion euro ambition,” he said.

Asked if it was more than €1bn, he said “absolutely” and if it was more than €2bn he said: “We’re getting there, we’re getting there but I don’t want to go any further because we are close to procurement.” 

UHL and St Vincent’s were pilot sites for virtual wards. This means patients after assessment can stay at home but they are monitored remotely using digital tools.

Rachel Kenna, assistant secretary, said: “This year alone we’ve had over 1,500 patients admitted through those two wards between January and November.

That’s an equivalent of over 13,000 virtual bed days. This is 13,000 bed days which would have taken up capacity in hospitals. It cleared that capacity for other patients coming in. That is a real benefit for the system.

Last week, the Mercy and three other hospitals also began offering this, which she said is “good news” for patients in those areas.

The use of AI was also discussed. Mr Tierney said it was about using this safely and ethically. Hiqa has been asked to develop guidance on this.

Senator Nicole Ryan asked if these new systems could survive a hacking attack such as happened in 2021 and was told of improved security systems, including an increase in dedicated staff.