Health Information Act 2026
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Interpretation | ||
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2. In this Act— | ||
“appropriate person” has the meaning assigned to it by section 13 (2); | ||
“child” means a person who has not attained the age of 18 years; | ||
“data protection impact assessment” has the same meaning as it has in Part 5 of the Data Protection Act 2018 ; | ||
“Data Protection Regulation” means EU Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 20162 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and of the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation); | ||
“data subject” has the same meaning as it has in the Data Protection Regulation; | ||
“Electronic Health Record” has the meaning assigned to it by section 10 (1); | ||
“enactment” has the same meaning as it has in the Interpretation Act 2005 ; | ||
“Executive” means the Health Service Executive; | ||
“guidelines” means guidelines prepared and published by the Executive in accordance with section 21 ; | ||
“health”, in relation to a patient, includes the well-being of the patient; | ||
“health information” includes— | ||
(a) personal health data including personal data that relates to the provision of a health service, | ||
(b) information that provides a more complete understanding of personal health data, | ||
(c) information that provides a more complete understanding of the health services, | ||
(d) information that relates to— | ||
(i) the provision of health services, including planning for such provision, and | ||
(ii) the evaluation of health services, | ||
(e) information referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) that has been aggregated or prepared for statistical purposes, and | ||
(f) data in relation to care (within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2025/327 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 20253 on the European Health Data Space and amending Directive 2011/24/EU and Regulation (EU) 2024/2847); | ||
“health practitioner” means— | ||
(a) a registered medical practitioner within the meaning of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 or a medical practitioner practising medicine pursuant to section 50 of that Act, | ||
(b) a registered dentist within the meaning of the Dentists Act 1985 , | ||
(c) a registered pharmacist or registered pharmaceutical assistant within the meaning of the Pharmacy Act 2007 , | ||
(d) a registered nurse or registered midwife within the meaning of the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011 , | ||
(e) a registrant within the meaning of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 , or | ||
(f) a person whose name is entered in the register of pre-hospital emergency care practitioners established under the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (Establishment) Order 2000 (S.I. No. 109 of 2000); | ||
“health service” means a health or personal social service (including personal care and any administrative service or other ancillary matter relating to the health or personal social service) provided to a patient— | ||
(a) for— | ||
(i) the screening, preservation or improvement of the health of the patient, or | ||
(ii) the prevention, diagnosis, treatment or care of an illness or injury of the patient, | ||
and | ||
(b) by or under the direction of a health services provider; | ||
“health services provider” means— | ||
(a) the Executive, | ||
(b) a body corporate, or an unincorporated body of persons, through which or in connection with which (whether by reason of employment or otherwise) a health practitioner provides a health service, or | ||
(c) a health practitioner, where the practitioner is not providing a health service through or in connection with (whether by reason of employment or otherwise) a body referred to in paragraph (b); | ||
“in writing” includes by electronic means; | ||
“information” includes data; | ||
“Minister” means the Minister for Health; | ||
“patient”, means a person to whom a health service is, or was, provided by a health services provider; | ||
“personal data” has the same meaning as it has in the Data Protection Regulation; | ||
“personal health data”, in relation to a patient, means— | ||
(a) personal data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Regulation) concerning the patient’s health, and | ||
(b) genetic data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Regulation) relating to the patient; | ||
“personal public service number” has the same meaning as it has in section 262 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 ; | ||
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister; | ||
“processing”, in relation to personal health data, has the same meaning as it has in the Data Protection Regulation; | ||
“pseudonymisation” has the same meaning as it has in the Data Protection Regulation; | ||
“relevant person” means— | ||
(a) a body established by or under an enactment to perform functions in relation to health services, | ||
(b) a person with whom the Executive has entered into an arrangement under section 38 or 39 of the Health Act 2004 , or | ||
(c) a person, other than a person referred to in paragraph (b), with whom the Executive has entered into an arrangement to provide health services. | ||