Members of the public are being asked to give their views on individual health identifiers (IHI) - unique numbers that will be assigned to all people using health and social care services in this country.

An IHI is a unique, non-transferable number that will last for a person's lifetime. According to the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), its purpose is to ‘ accurately identify the person, enabling health and social care to be delivered to the right patient, in the right place and at the right time'.

"When introduced, they will play a crucial role in building safer, more efficient healthcare services by improving accuracy in identifying patients and their medical records. This will reduce the number of adverse events that can happen when delivering healthcare services, such as giving the patient incorrect medication, or admitting the wrong person for surgery," explained HIQA's acting director of health information, Rachel Flynn.

HIQA has now published draft standards for the introduction of IHIs in Ireland and is asking the public to give its views on them.

"HIQA has developed these draft standards to support the introduction of health identifiers into the Irish healthcare system by providing information governance and management standards that the health identifier operators must put into practice," Ms Flynn explained.

She said that the introduction of IHIs is ‘critical for the advancement of the eHealth strategy in Ireland'.

Ms Flynn added that the public's views would be analysed and considered before the standards are finalised.

The public consultation on the draft standards will run until April 24, 2015. The standards and information on how to take part in the consultation can be viewed here