New policy on private hospitals

Minister for Health Mary Harney is to circulate new guidelines to health authorities later this month on the development of private hospitals on the grounds of public facilities.

Among the issues to be set out in the new plan are who should run these proposed new private hospitals; who should own the sites on which they are based; and what links they should have to the public health service.

Sources close to the Department of Health said this weekend that many local health authorities had been approached by private developers in recent times about the construction of private hospitals adjacent to existing facilities.

It has been Government policy for several years to encourage the development of additional private hospitals through the provision of tax breaks.

Sources said Ms Harney was close to finalising a new policy in this area and that guidelines would be circulated to health authorities later this month. The new policy will be based on a report drawn up for the Department of Health by consultants, Prospectus.

A key element of the new plan is likely to be the transfer of over 2,000 existing beds for fee-paying patients in public hospitals to the proposed new private centres.

Such a move would allow for thousands of additional public patients to be treated in public hospitals. At present around 20 per cent of beds in hospitals are earmarked for private patients.

However, The Irish Times revealed last week that the latest official figures show that there were far more private patients being treated in public hospitals than allowed under the official Government rules.

Figures released by the Department of Health to Progressive Democrat TD Mae Sexton indicated that in 48 of 56 public hospitals around the country there was more private practice carried out last year than officially permitted. In some hospitals nearly 50 per cent of those discharged last year were private patients.

The planned transfer of private patients out of public hospitals will cost a significant amount of money. Public hospitals currently generate nearly €200 million annually from fee-paying patients. The hospitals will seek to recoup any lost earnings through a larger exchequer allocation.

Ms Harney has signalled on several occasions since her appointment that she sees scope for greater involvement of the private sector in the health service.

The transfer of beds for fee-paying patients to new private facilities on public campuses would allow the Government to move at a faster pace towards its target of providing more accommodation for public patients.

The Government estimated in 2001 that an additional 3,000 acute hospitals beds were required. To date 713 have been provided.