eHealth targets: The European Commissioner with responsibility for the information society, Viviane Reding, has said interoperability of IT systems in the European health sector is now her main priority.
She said it was not just a technology issue, but also a legal, economic, social and culture issue, but she would make recommendations on how linking up all health systems could be achieved by the end of next year.
The Commissioner, who was speaking at a major conference on ehealth in Spain, said this would ensure citizens receive the same level of healthcare across the EU.
Prof Jane Grimson of Trinity College's Department of Computer Science, who chaired a session at eHealth 2006, said Ireland had definitely fallen behind other member states in recent years.
"That's particularly surprising given our reputation in ICT [ Information and Communication Technology] generally," said Ms Grimson. "At the moment, investment in the health sector seems to be focused on the issues where people shout the loudest."
Speaking at the conference Spanish Health Minister Elena Salgado defined eHealth as using information and communications technology to its maximum potential to improve healthcare.
To roll out eHealth services, member states are establishing electronic patient record systems. This enables any healthcare professional treating a patient to access a patient's personal details and other relevant information about their treatment from an online database.
The HSE says it is working towards implementing a national patient record system. Two years ago it awarded a contract to British software company iSoft to deploy its software which is in use in four of the five NHS regions in the UK.
Ursula O'Sullivan, IT and EU projects manager with the HSE, said the enabling infrastructure was in place and the next step was to incorporate clinical and community modules. A significant challenge for the move to eHealth is that following the overspend on the PPARS payroll project, all new IT projects have to receive ministerial approval.
Ms Reding said €500 million had been channelled into eHealth research in Europe in the past 15 years. "This has led to a situation where over 80 per cent of European primary care physicians are connected online and many keep paperless practices," she said.
Speakers highlighted three elements of successful eHealth projects: healthcare professionals have to be engaged and see the benefits of the new systems; off-the-shelf software and hardware is preferable to developing from scratch; and a phased approach is more successful.