VHI agrees to pay bills in dispute on hospital bed charges

A DISPUTE over the billing of patients and the classification of beds between the Voluntary Health Insurance Board and the west of Ireland's main hospital, University College Hospital, Galway, has been resolved.

The VHI claimed that its members were being wrongly charged and revised to pay the bills, although patients believed they were covered. The board claimed that patients were being charged private rates for beds which were not classified as such and were also being used by public patients.

Following the latest of a series of meetings over the past few months between the VHI and management at UCHG, the matter was resolved, with the board agreeing to pay all outstanding bills.

It is estimated that more than 120 patients were involved and in some cases the amount in dispute amounted to several thousand pounds.

Last October, the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, had said that he wanted the matter resolved quickly.

When patients found themselves at the centre of the dispute, the VHI had advised them to challenge the bills and undertook to cover any "reasonable legal costs" incurred by subscribers.

The VHI finance director, Mr John Looney, said yesterday that following an investigation of circumstances at UCHG, the VHI accepted that the hospital was under intense pressure for beds and there was an occasional need to transfer patients from private to public beds.

Under the Health Services (In patient) Regulations of 1991, each hospital must nominate the beds which fall into public and private categories and these could only be changed in the event of an emergency. After witnessing the extent of overcrowding at UCHG, it was agreed that all outstanding bills arising from the dispute would be paid, he confirmed.