The recent adverse publicity in relation to CervicalCheck and
wide ranging recommendations contained within the Scally report
acts as a useful reminder to health service providers and medical
practitioners concerning the risk of not being open and
communicating as early as possible with patients when errors occur.
Some practitioners are unsure whether they are obliged to inform
patients when an error has occurred in medical treatment and many
are terrified that if they do, they will risk litigation or a
complaint to the Medical Council. Presently the law leaves
disclosure of adverse incidents to a health service
provider’s discretion1.
However, new proposed legislation contained in Patient Safety
Bill 2018 (the "Bill”) provides for
mandatory disclosure of serious patient safety incidents.
Significantly, health service providers who fail to make a
disclosure which is mandatory under the Bill could face up to a
€7,000 fine and 6 months imprisonment2.
However, in
