Public hospitals exceed HSE limits on private case load

ONLY A handful of public hospitals have adhered to limits laid down by the Health Service Executive (HSE) on the number of private patients, according to figures released yesterday.

A maximum of 20 per cent of cases in public hospitals are supposed to be private. But according to the most recent figures released to the Public Accounts Committee by the HSE, over 50 per cent of planned surgery in some public hospitals is carried out on private patients.

In St John's Hospital, Limerick, 54 per cent of elective cases were private in 2006, while in Limerick Regional hospital, the figure was 52 per cent. Some 47 per cent of elective cases in Mallow hospital were private; the figure was 46 per cent for the Mercy hospital in Cork and 43 per cent for Cork University Hospital.

At Tallaght hospital in Dublin, 44 per cent of elective cases were private. Cavan hospital had 43 per cent, the South Infirmary Victoria had 42 per cent and, at Portiuncula hospital in Galway, 38 per cent of elective cases were private.

The overall public-private mix for elective, emergency and day cases was 42 per cent at St John's hospital and 39 per cent in two hospitals, Mercy and Limerick regional. The figure was 33 per cent for Portiuncula and 29 per cent for Cavan.

Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen, said the figures were alarming in some cases.

"Private elective surgery is over 50 per cent in some cases, way over the 20 per cent limit that is supposed to exist," he said.

Mr Allen also complained that the HSE had not provided the committee with figures they had requested at a meeting last February, including a breakdown of private and public cases on a speciality basis and on a consultant-by-consultant basis.

"We should know what is going on in our hospitals," he said. "The HSE will be attending a meeting with us in May and we hope they will provide the figures then."

Under the new consultants' contracts, Minister for Health Mary Harney has said there will be strict monitoring of private work carried out in public hospitals and it will be strictly limited to 20 per cent.