2005 IRISH SCIENTIST YEAR BOOK

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Dublin City University
Dónal O'Mathúna
Patients' rights – evaluating if the European Charter will make a difference

The health care system is constantly in the news in Ireland. Various efforts are under way to improve the quality of care being delivered. One general approach focuses on patients' rights and how these can best be vindicated. A team of researchers from the School of Nursing and the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University has evaluated one of these efforts. The Irish Patients' Association funded this project to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the European Charter of Patients' Rights. The resulting report was launched at a conference opened by An Tánaiste, Mary Harney, TD, in Dublin on April 18, 2005. The report is entitled Health Care Rights and Responsibilities: A Review of the European Charter of Patients' Rights, (available at www.dcu.ie/nursing/patients_rights.shtml ).

The European Charter of Patients' Rights was published in 2002 by an Italian patients' rights organisation. This group is seeking to improve health care throughout Europe using the fourteen rights outlined in the Charter. These include the right of access, and the right to information, consent, privacy and confidentiality, safety, innovation and compensation. The Report examined the philosophical, ethical and historical basis of rights, and the strengths and weaknesses of a rights-based approach to health care. It also reviewed Irish law in areas relevant to the fourteen rights.

The recommendations of the DCU report point to the importance of recognising different types of rights. Some are fundamental and should almost always be upheld (like the right to consent) while others have to be balanced against available resources (like the right of access to health care). Another central recommendation is that discussions of rights must include recognition of the corresponding responsibilities. For example, if we have a right to health care, we have to remember that someone then has a responsibility to pay for these services. This also creates a responsibility to spend resources wisely.

This research involved collaboration between researchers with a variety of academic backgrounds, including nursing, law, ethics, psychology and pharmacy. The DCU School of Nursing is involved in a number of other collaborative research projects seeking to improve health and nursing care in Ireland and abroad.

Contact: Dr. Dónal O'Mathúna, School of Nursing,
Dublin City University, Dublin 9;
Tel: 01 700 7808; E-mail: [email protected]