Stephen Donnelly’s defeat was arguably the biggest shock result of the November 29 Irish general election, with the Minister for Health seen as a driving force behind the digitalisation of the health service.
Mr Donnelly, who lost a seat he has held since 2011, has previously said that digitising services across health and social care was a personal priority for him.
Over the last year he has published the national digital health strategy, brought the long-awaited Health Information Bill successfully to the Dail, and launched the HSE virtual ward programme.
He has previously said “the provision of digital health solutions is a fundamental enabler for the reform of the health service and the implementation of Sláintecare”.
This commitment was further evidenced in Fianna Fail’s pre-election manifesto which promised that, if re-elected, the party would introduce a virtual urgent care programme based on the Australian model and would “continue to work towards the full digitisation of Irish healthcare records and information systems”.
Speaking just weeks before the election, Mr Donnelly expressed his ambition to retain the health portfolio if Fianna Fail remained in power, saying he was only “halfway through” reforming the healthcare sector.
“I’ve led the development of a new culture of productivity and value for money and we need to embed this new approach, and we need to support it with modern facilities and eHealth,” he said when launching the part’s pre-election health policy.
“I am passionate about healthcare,” he said. “I think it’s one of the most important unfinished projects in our republic.”
The question now is, what happens to his digital ambitions? Mr Donnelly wasn’t the only heavy hitter championing the digitisation of health. Department of Health secretary general Robert Watt has been an outspoken advocate for eHealth solutions as part of efforts to increase productivity and value for money within the health budget.
Mr Watt has described digital health as “a critical enabler of the [health system] reform and of the system into the future”.
“We have a vision,” he said. “It’s a vision of shifting from hospital to community. It’s a shift from sickness to prevention through the various programmes that we have. It’s a shift to strong performance management, and it’s a shift of course from analogue to digital.”
At the HSE’s Spark Summit earlier this year, CEO Bernard Gloster said the executive and the Department of Health were united in their goal of driving the modernisation and digitisation of the health service.
“The evolution of healthcare technology and decision-support tools is leading to smarter decisions and sustainable improvements,” Mr Gloster said at the time.
“The organisation continues to evolve. Accessing the right data in the right setting at the right time within a framework of care, culture and governance will lead not only to a good organisation but a great one.”
Much of this ambition is dependent on new legislation, with the Health Information Bill essential to the creation of a national electronic health record and the roll out of the national digital health strategy.
The legislation will also support Ireland’s obligations under the European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation.
The bill was published in July and passed Dáil Second Stage on 25 September 2024. It must now go through the Committee Stage. The Department Health has confirmed to Pulse+IT that this has not yet been scheduled.
A spokesperson said: “Department of Health officials will continue to prioritise this work in the period ahead to ensure the Bill progresses as quickly as possible.”
Mr Donnelly will continue as Minister for Health until government formation talks have concluded and a new Minister for Health is appointed by the next Taoiseach.
