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WQ.69/2024
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES
BY DEPUTY K.M. WILSON OF ST. CLEMENT
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 4th MARCH 2024
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 11th MARCH 2024
Question
“Further to the recent major IT outage in the Health and Community Services Department, will the Minister explain –
- what work, if any, is being undertaken to improve the quality of IT services in the department;
- how many patient safety incidents were recorded as a result of the IT outage; and
- what action, if any, is being taken to prevent a major IT outage recurrence?”
Answer
Further to the IT incident which affected users across the Health and Community Services Department on Friday 23rd February, I can confirm that –
- There is an ongoing programme of works to upgrade IT services in the Health and Community Services Department and to digitise services as part of the Digital Health programme. I have committed to share the results of the ongoing investigation and any mitigation plans with the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel as soon as possible.
- There were no patient safety incidents recorded as a result of the IT incident. A total of 34 planned appointments needed to be rescheduled; 24 Outpatient and 10 elective surgery appointments were rescheduled by the following Thursday.
- The Chief Information Officer and his staff are working closely with the third-party provider to identify the root cause of the problem that arose following the update to their software, and a large amount of systems diagnostic data are currently being examined. In addition, an increased level of oversight and control has been implemented in relation to any further changes or updates that may threaten to affect technical services moving forward.