Clinic AI in Dublin in 2026, under the Medical Council, the DPC and the new Health Information Act

The private care market in Dublin

Census 2022 found that 64% of Dublin's usual residents were born in the county, 11% elsewhere in the State and 25%, or 362,478 people, outside it.¹ Insurance funds much of private care. The Health Insurance Authority counted 2.55 million people with health insurance at 31 March 2026, with a weighted average adult premium of €1,960.⁴

The Authority reports that most insured people hold plans with substantial cover in private hospitals, mainly in semi-private rooms.⁴ For a private clinic, a quick reply that quotes the price and books the slot turns that cover into appointments.

The rules a clinic in Dublin works under

Doctors practise under registration with the Medical Council.⁶ Its Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics, ninth edition, is explicit on recording.⁵ Where a doctor decides an audio recording is necessary for patient care, the doctor must explain it to the patient and obtain consent to both the making and any proposed sharing of the recording, and keep it confidential as part of the patient's record.⁵

Patient data falls under the GDPR, with the Data Protection Commission at 6 Pembroke Row, Dublin 2 as the supervisory authority.⁷ HIQA sets national standards for health information, including its 2024 standards for information management and a national standard for a clinical patient summary.⁹ Across the EU, the AI Act has been applicable since 2 August 2026.¹¹

The Health Information Act 2026 was signed into law on 30 April 2026.⁸ It provides for a duty on health services providers to share a patient's personal health data, in certain circumstances, with other providers treating the same patient, for an Electronic Health Record for every patient, and for providers to record each patient's personal public service number.⁸ Check with your adviser which sections have commenced.

Healthlink, run by the Health Service Executive, is the national broker for secure clinical messaging between GPs, hospitals and other agencies, carrying referrals, radiology orders and other reports in HL7.¹⁰ wai hosts each clinic's records in its own country, under that country's rules. We set this up with your clinic. wai is compliant with these rules and built for clinics in Dublin. wai is built to connect to Healthlink. We set up your clinic's connection with you.

The languages Dublin patients write in

Non-Irish citizens made up 17% of the county's population in 2022 and 21% in Dublin City, the highest share of any area in the State.²³ In the year before the census, 22,475 people moved to Dublin City from outside the State.²

wai works in any language.¹² A newcomer who writes in the language of home receives a reply drafted in that language, read and approved by the team before it goes.

What a demo shows in Dublin

An email arrives at 21:15 from an engineer in the Docklands who wants a GP appointment before work and asks what it will cost. Checking only when each GP is busy in Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar, wai writes a reply with the price from the clinic's website and the first open morning slot, and the receptionist sends it after approving it at 8:00. The booking and the euro deposit go through the clinic's own website and Stripe account.

In the consult, the doctor explains the recording and notes the patient's consent, as the Medical Council's Guide requires, and the note is drafted while they talk.⁵ The referral letter is ready to review and sign before the next patient, and every draft and approval is logged. Every wai price is public on the pricing page.

For hospital groups, insurers and public bodies in Dublin

Private hospital groups, health insurers and public bodies in Dublin can have wai built around one measurable pathway, such as insured outpatient referrals, with data and model rights, portability and exit terms in the contract, and clinicians still sign every note. The organisations page describes what a first build involves.

Where to start

First, rewrite the consult script so the doctor explains the recording and asks about both making and sharing it, and mirror it in the consent form template.⁵ Second, check that the practice records each patient's personal public service number, which the Health Information Act provides for.⁸

Third, set out for the DPC file who processes patient data, where it is hosted and which subprocessors are involved.⁷ Fourth, pull a fortnight of after-hours emails and WhatsApp messages and walk through them in a fifteen-minute demo.

Frequently asked questions