A new study of the Irish health system commissioned by Irish Congress of Trade Unions and published today contains 80 recommendations for reform.
The study, The Health Report: An Agenda for Irish Health Care Reform, warns that privatisation in the health service is causing irreparable damage.
It also suggests hospital consultants and GPs should be paid a basic salary and a fee for treating all patients, public and private, so that private patients are not favoured. It also claims more hospital beds should be provided and more money should be spent on the sector.
Other key recommendations of the report include provide access to care on the basis of need, modernise and invest in primary care, stop the privatisation of the health service, expand acute and long-stay capacity, and introduce additional care for the aged
Speaking today, Ictu general secretary David Begg, said: "One of the most disturbing trends uncovered by the report is that of privatisation of our health service, a privatisation that is occurring almost by stealth.
"This insidious trend is built on a myth - that it will cost the taxpayer nothing and will deliver extra capacity for the health service. This new study comprehensively demolishes that myth," he added.
The study was written by international health expert Dale Tussing and economist Maev-Ann Wren.