Tanaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney has outlined a plan to provide an extra 1,000 public beds by encouraging the building of private hospital units.
Tanaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney
Under the five-year plan, 1,000 beds in public hospitals currently occupied by private patients will be transferred over to private hospitals which would, where possible, be built on the same campus.
Detailing her plan at a press conference in Dublin today, Ms Harney said by "encouraging new private hospitals to take a substantial number of private and semi-private beds out of our public hospitals, we will create new beds for public patients in the fastest and most cost-effective way."
She said while the public-private mix in the public hospital system had facilitated the sharing of clinical expertise, "inequities for public patients have arisen".
The next stage is the invitation of proposals from the private sector to build private hospitals at the site of approximately nine major public hospitals including Beaumont; the Mater; Tallaght and St James's in Dublin.
Outside Dublin, development of private beds is to be considered at Limerick Regional; Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth; Waterford Regional Hospital; Cork University Hospital and University College Hospital Galway.
The Tanaiste said emphasis would be given to the regional spread of the new beds, and development would not be encouraged in areas where there was already a surplus bed capacity.
On offer for the developers are tax breaks contained within the Finance Acts which provide for capital allowances over a seven-year period for the construction of private hospitals, provided they meet a number of criteria.
Also on offer is access to lands adjoining some of the aforementioned hospitals. How exactly the developers will gain access to this land is as yet undecided. Ms Harney said she expected the lands to be leased on a commercial basis, but added she did not want to be too prescriptive on this aspect.
Asked about the likely manpower implications of the plan, specifically in relation to consultants' reactions to the plan, Ms Harney admitted there were issues in enforcing the current contract. She said negotiations on a new consultants contract are due to start in the autumn, after a two year delay.
She stressed, however, that there was no question of consultants receiving compensation for the transfer of their private beds from the public hospital. She said the aim was that consultants would be prepared to work in a streamlined and co-operative way.
She hoped that the public sector would buy even more services from the private sector in a development of the relationship established by the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
The State is expected to forego approximately €145 million per annum in annual fees from private patients being treated in public beds and expects to spend a further €25 million on consultants and staff.
However, given that the capital cost of providing a new public hospital bed costs the State approximately €400,000, the plan is seen as a cost effective way of increasing the bed stock.
The Department of Health has written to the Health Service Executive with an outline of the assessment framework, drawn up with the assistance of Prospectus management consultants.
HSE officials said this would allow the executive to ensure the highest standards were met.
Ms Harney added it has been Government policy since 1999 that the full economic cost of private beds in public hospitals would now be paid by private health insurance companies. The insurers had been paying approximately 60 per cent of the true economic cost, a cost which was increased by 25 per cent last year.
