S.I. No. 48/1955 - Maternity and Child Health Services (Amendment) Regulations, 1955.

S.I. No. 48 of 1955.

MATERNITY AND CHILD HEALTH SERVICES (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1955.

The Minister for Health, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 5 of the Health Act, 1947 (No. 28 of 1947), and section 22 of the Health Act, 1953 (No. 26 of 1953), hereby makes the following regulations :—

1. These regulations may be cited as the Maternity and Child Health Services (Amendment) Regulations, 1955.

2. The following article shall be substituted for Article 5 of the Maternity and Child Health Services Regulations, 1954 ( S.I. No. 98 of 1954 ) :—

" 5. (1) A health authority and their officers shall keep such records as may be specified by the Minister from time to time or, in the absence of such specification, as may be determined by the health authority, in relation to the services made available in accordance with these regulations.

(2) Any clinical records kept in pursuance of this article shall be treated in a confidential manner and, save as provided in subarticle (5) of this article, shall not be disclosed in such a manner as to make identification of the patient possible without the consent in writing of the patient.

(3) When any record, claim, application, report or other communication relating to the giving of services to a person in accordance with these regulations is sent by post, it shall be enclosed in a sealed envelope.

(4) A document which is obtained or compiled under these regulations (or a part of, or an extract from, such a document) which contains the name of a patient shall not be published save with the consent in writing of the patient.

(5) Nothing in this article shall be construed as preventing the inspection by a registered medical practitioner authorised by the health authority or by the Minister of the clinical records kept in pursuance of this article.

(6) The consent referred to in subarticles (2) and (4) of this article may, in the case of a minor, be given by a parent or guardian and, in the case of a deceased person, may be given by the spouse of such person, or if there is no spouse, by any of the next of kin of such person."

3. Form MCA in the Schedule to the Maternity and Child Health Services (Amendment) Regulations, 1954 ( S.I. No. 158 of 1954 ), shall be amended by the deletion of " The expected date of confinement is ............................, 19......."

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Health this Twenty-fourth day of March, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty-five.

THOMAS F. O'HIGGINS,

Minister for Health.