HOSPITAL ADMISSION lists are no longer being made available to
members of the clergy seeking to check if their parishioners are in
hospital.
The long-standing practice of allowing priests to check admissions has been stopped by recent data protection legislation.
“Generally
the priests regret that the list isn’t available for practical
reasons,” said Fr Brendan Hoban of the Association of Catholic Priests.
The
new legislation could lead to situations where priests visiting
parishioners might be oblivious to the fact that other parishioners were
also in the hospital, he said.
“The other side of it – nowadays
people tend to be taken to hospital and released from hospital very
quickly,” he said.
“It just makes the practice difficult for priests
visiting hospitals.”
Tullamore Midland Regional Hospital chaplain the Rev Gerald Field said the legislation allowed patients a level of privacy.
“It
puts the onus on the family that if they want their rector or parish
priest to come in, they let them know,” he said.
As chaplain, he has
access to all Church of Ireland patients.
He would only share the information with the patient’s rector with the consent of the patient’s family.
The Health Service Executive says it is restricted from passing on sensitive information to third parties.
“Any
priest or clergyman who wishes to visit a patient may do so and the HSE
will do what it can to facilitate meetings between patients and their
spiritual advisers.
“However, the HSE cannot release sensitive
personal information to any person in breach of the provisions of the
data protection legislation,” it said.