Charter bid to boost patient rights

EU blueprint: Patients' representatives in Ireland are to push for a new charter of patients' rights to be incorporated into law.

A European Charter of Patients' Rights, drawn up by patients' groups, has been referred to legal experts at Dublin City University (DCU) to see whether its terms are compatible with the Health Strategy and Irish law.

The DCU School of Law and Governance will issue a report within weeks stating if there are any gaps in Irish law or the way the State has carried out its duty towards patients to date.

The report is part of an effort by patients' representatives across EU member-states to safeguard patients' rights in a single, statutory European document.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Health Service Executive confirmed that an update to Ireland's 1994 Patient's Charter was being planned.

This would take place in "partnership with service providers, patients' representatives and advocacy groups", she said. She was unable to say if the new document would be on a statutory footing.

Stephen McMahon, chairman of the Irish Patients Association (IPA), said it was vital any new patients charter be incorporated onto the Statute Book. "Irish patients need their rights protected by law because these rights are for all present and future patients, regardless of acuteness, chronic condition, or spaciousness of health of any patient," he said.

"Many countries have rights in law. Others, while they don't have the Charter installed as law, have charters regarded as an obligation or a duty of the government in that country.

The new document differs from the existing Irish Charter in a number of key areas, not least in extending the protection of rights to all patients, not just those in hospital.

Among the 14 core entitlements in the new charter, a patient's right of access to preventative measures and access to services meeting their needs are seen as crucially important.

Under the European Charter a patient's right to the necessary treatment within a "swift and predetermined period of time" is also safeguarded. It also says patients should have access to the most innovative medicine according to international standards.

They should also have the right to claim "sufficient compensation within a reasonably short time whenever he or she has suffered physical or moral and psychological harm caused by a health service treatment".

Existing entitlements such as the right to privacy and confidentiality; the right to complain and the right to choose from different treatments are also included in the new charter.

If the legal report finds the European Charter compatible with Irish law, the IPA plans to discuss how to implement it with the health service stakeholders.