Hospitals which treat road accident victims are suffering financial losses because motor insurance companies, acting for the "wrongdoers", are obliged to pay only a portion of the hospitals' costs, the High Court was told yesterday.
The Eastern Health Board, which payrolls hospitals in its area, has taken a test case against the FBD insurance company. It is asking the High Court to find that motor insurance companies should pay "reasonable" fees to hospitals in future.
The accident which led to yesterday's test case involved Mr Derek Crilly, of Carntown, Ballymakenny, Drogheda, Co Louth, who was awarded £1.56 million for injuries he sustained when struck by a car on September 30th, 1989, at Moyaddy, Co Meath.
Mr Crilly was treated at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, over 58 days in 1989 and for a further 88 days between September 1990 and September 1991.
The EHB claimed that the cost of the hospital care and services delivered to Mr Crilly was £34,773, but under current High Court rules the hospital received only £6,642.
Mr Paul Gallagher SC, for the EHB, told Mr Justice Geoghegan that FBD had now, in relation to the Crilly case, paid the outstanding £28,131.
However, the issue of what were "reasonable" hospital charges was still outstanding between the EHB and the insurance company, counsel said.
The decision regarding that would have relevance to all hospitals and health boards providing services to road-accident victims.
Mr Gallagher said Beaumont Hospital, with 2,000 staff, was funded mainly by grants from the EHB. The hospital believed it was entitled to make a reasonable charge commensurate with the services provided.
The EHB suggested a new methodology should be adopted in relation to the charge to be made by a hospital. The "maintenance" charge currently paid did not come near to discharging the actual cost of hospital services.
Mr Gallagher said the average daily cost of in-care facilities in Beaumont in 1989 was £218. It was £250 in 1990-1991.
Under a formula adopted by the courts following a decision some years ago by Mr Justice Kinlen, £100 was fixed as the daily rate. The current rate, based on that formula, is believed to be £120 to £150.
Mr Gallagher said that in Mr Crilly's case the cost of private nursing care was calculated at £96 a day whereas the cost allowed to Beaumont when Mr Crilly was a patient had been £100 a day.
The services provided to him by the hospital were more extensive than simple nursing care.
On a 24-hour basis, private nursing care for Mr Crilly would be £192. In Beaumont, Mr Crilly had been admitted to intensive care, underwent scans and got neurological monitoring, total nursing care, injections and other services.
In its statement of claim the EHB alleges FBD disputed the method of calculating the charge sought by the board and other health boards and has sought to limit the compensation payable to injured persons in respect of health charges to sums substantially below that contended for by the board.
The hearing continues.