Patients' charter: The duty to pay taxes and possibly a health tax should be enshrined into Irish law, according to the authors of a new report.
The recommendation is made in the context of a review by a team from Dublin City University of the European Charter of Patients' Rights which stipulates the health service must guarantee equal access to everyone without discriminating on the basis of financial resources.
The review, published yesterday, stressed that while a right to access health care services can be welcomed, the responsibility to pay for those services must lie somewhere.
"Members of society cannot insist on services and simultaneously refuse to pay for those services," it said.
"As with all economic and social rights, the right to health care is laudable; but it costs money. Without a willingness on the part of everyone to pay for the charter's rights, enacting them could further destabilise the Irish health care system," it added.
The European charter has proposed 14 rights for patients including a right to access, right to free choice, right to information, right to privacy and confidentiality, right to respect of patients' time, right to safety, right to personalised treatment, right to complain and right to compensation.
The review group said as the charter currently stands it needs to be rewritten to better articulate its vision. But it said it warranted serious consideration by all stakeholders in the Irish health care system.
Furthermore they said while the right to free choice was laudable, it would generate significant resource problems. "We recommend that an equitable and transparent process be developed so that patients understand why they are given the choices available to them".
Controversial is how the review group described the right to compensation. "We recommend that the focus be shifted from financial compensation onto other factors such as providing answers to patients' questions and ensuring that complaints improve quality and safety."
Overall it said the rights in the European charter had both strengths and weaknesses and there had to be public debate on the issues they raised. "We want to avoid a situation where patients are told they have several rights and yet the healthcare services are not given the resources necessary to provide those rights. Such a situation would lead to further frustration and dissatisfaction with the health care system".
If the charter was adapted and developed for the Republic it would promote patient-centred care, it added.
The review was commissioned by the Irish Patients Association. Its chairman Stephen McMahon said the timing of the review was important given the health service was undergoing reform. If the charter was adopted there would be a better health service for all, both patients and staff, he said.
Speaking at the publication of the review the Minister for Health Mary Harney said she wanted to ensure the rights of patients were central to any decisions made in healthcare. "In the past that's not always been the case," she said.
"So when we're deciding where hospitals should be and what should happen at particular hospitals, patient safety and the interests of patients have to be paramount, and certainly for as long as I am Minister for Health that will be the case," she said.