HSE’s new app for patients ‘primitive’ says former head of IT reform
Waiting times for test results are unnecessarily long, but...
A NEW app that aims to help drag the HSE’s IT infrastructure into the 21st century has been labelled ‘primitive’ by a health service tech expert.
Professor Martin Curley, the former head of digital transformation at the HSE who resigned last year saying the health service was not fit for purpose, told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘I don’t want to be overly critical, but from what has been described in the media, the only way you could describe that app is primitive.’
The professor of innovation at Maynooth University added: ‘The broader issue is, we are not just behind – we are very far behind the rest of Europe in digital healthcare. That’s according to the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development], but also there’s a new eHealth composite
‘We’re not just last, we’re far last in 27th place’
indicator published by the European Commission and we’re not just last, we’re far last in 27th place.’
In most developed countries, there are national or regional electronic health records (EHRs) for patients. Most have a patient portal, where people can access their results as soon as they become available.
In a World Health Organisation report published last month analysing 52 countries in or around Europe, the only countries not to have neither national or regional EHRs nor a patient portal were Ireland, the Czech Republic, Moldova and Uzbekistan.
Prof Curley said a ‘leapfrog’ strategy is needed to cover for lost ground and transform digital healthcare in the HSE. He will attend a conference on the theme in Maynooth next month.
Prof Curley added: ‘We need to actually try to fix the healthcare system from the outside in, with multiple parties.’
In response to queries from the MoS, a HSE spokesman reiterated comments made by the chief operating officer, Damien McCallion, at the Oireachtas Health Committee this week.
Mr McCallion said in his opening statement: ‘Regarding digital health, the HSE and the Department of Health have worked together to finalise a digital health and social care framework that will guide priorities, development and investment.
‘This is underpinned by a more detailed road map which sets down a clear path for the integration of digital technologies in the healthcare system and marks a crucial step in the journey towards a patient-centred and digitally enabled health and social care environment.
‘Through this framework, we are advancing the implementation of a new patient app in 2024, the development of electronic patient records in key areas, such as the children’s hospital, and the development of a national electronic health record.
‘In addition, we continue to implement solutions to support hospital and community services in their day-to-day operations across services such as laboratories, mental health, disabilities, older persons, primary care and palliative care. This includes the innovative use of robotics and exploring the use of artificial intelligence,’ he said.
The delays patients experience in waiting for results was highlighted by one woman’s ordeal.
The patient, who received two cancer diagnoses in the space of 13 months, said she suffered unnecessary additional stress because of the HSE’s method of communicating information.
The woman, who did not want to be named, told the MoS: ‘In the space of those 13 months we had 17 hospital appointments, including three surgeries, half a dozen biopsies, and loads of other appointments. But a lot of these were just updates or consultations – information that we really could have got over the phone or online instead of having to drive halfway across the country.’
The patient, who already suffers from Generalised Anxiety Disorder, added that having to take time off work made things ‘a lot more stressful’.
The lost workdays and the cost of travelling to and from hospitals also had a significant financial impact on her.
The woman got the all-clear from cancer two weeks ago, after another drive to Dublin and a two-and-a-half-hour wait in a hospital waiting room.
‘The appointment was literally two minutes,’ she said. ‘It was all good news, and we were delighted. But then we were driving back exhausted and going, “Why in God’s name could they not have told us that earlier?”
‘And then we looked at the document, and it showed that they’d had those results since April 3. So that was just under three weeks of unnecessary extra worrying and stress.’
‘Why could they not have told us earlier?’