Minister commences Patient Safety Act 2023 with open disclosure duties

The Minister for Health has made the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 (Commencement) Order 2026, the instrument that brings the 2023 patient safety statute into operation. The order is published in Iris Oifigiúil No. 89 of Friday, 6 November 2026, as S.I. No. 552 of 2026, item C-3, with a cover price of €1.50. It was made in exercise of the power conferred on the minister by section 1(2) of the Act (No. 10 of 2023), the provision under which ministers fix the day or days on which a statute’s provisions come into force.

The measure activates legislation that has been on the statute book since 2023 and whose title records its two defining obligations: the handling of notifiable incidents and the principle of open disclosure. In practice the commencement transfers a regime that had been enacted but not yet operating into the live obligations of the health service, covering the notification of incidents of the kind the Act defines as notifiable and the disclosure of those events to the patients affected.

What the order does

The instrument is a commencement order rather than a set of substantive regulations. Its operative purpose is to appoint the day on which the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 takes effect, on foot of the ministerial power in section 1(2).

The notice printed in Iris Oifigiúil records the making of the order and its statutory basis; the operative text, as is conventional for notices in this section of the gazette, is published separately and sold through the official channel. The full text is therefore the definitive guide to the appointed day and to any provisions commenced on a staggered basis.

Publication and official availability

The order appears in the standard regulations section of the issue, item C-3, with the following publication details:

• Title: Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 (Commencement) Order 2026
• Official reference: S.I. No. 552 of 2026
• Gazette: Iris Oifigiúil, Number 89, Friday, 6 November 2026
• Statutory basis: section 1(2) of the Act (No. 10 of 2023)
• Price: €1.50
• Copies: Government Publications, Mountshannon Road, Kilmainham, Dublin, D08 XA06, telephone 046 942 3100, publications@opw.ie

An issue heavy with commencement orders

The order is one of several commencement instruments in the same edition of the gazette, which is the regular Friday vehicle for statutory instruments and their accompanying notices. The 6 November issue also carries, among others:

• S.I. No. 553 of 2026, the Oireachtas (Allowances and Facilities) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, made by Jack Chambers, Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation
• S.I. No. 554 of 2026, the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Act 2026 (Data Protection and Information Sharing) Regulations 2026
• S.I. No. 555 of 2026, restrictive measures regulations under the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005
• S.I. No. 558 of 2026, the Employment Permits (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2026, made by Alan Dillon, Minister of State, adding a quota of 300 seasonal employment permits at a minimum annual remuneration of €32,691

The pattern echoes earlier health commencements this autumn, including the order bringing the Health Information Act 2026 into operation and the 3 November commencement of the Health (Provision of Contraception Prescribing Service in Retail Pharmacy Businesses) Act 2026.

The commencement matters because it changes what patients and their families can expect when something goes wrong in care: an incident that the Act treats as notifiable is no longer a matter of internal review alone, and disclosure to the person affected becomes a statutory duty rather than a matter of good practice. For hospitals, clinics and their staff, the order begins the clock on compliance with a framework that touches every setting in which health care is delivered in the State.

Source: Iris Oifigiúil, No. 89, 6 November 2026, section I, item C-3 (official reference: S.I. No. 552 of 2026).