07 December 2005
Dr. Henry: I am concerned about the issue of these private hospitals and the perception the Tánaiste seems to have about the 2,500 private beds. Some 70% of hospital admissions are emergencies. If private patients are brought into a public hospital, will they lose their entitlement to stay in the public hospital? If one manages to get into a public hospital one gets good treatment. Will people have to be transferred to these private hospitals, which may or may not have their own intensive care units, junior staff levels and nurses in training? If they do not have those sort of things, they are actually being subsidised by the public health care system.
The Tánaiste said that Tallaght Hospital has a higher percentage of private patients than public ones, while St. Vincent’s Hospital has a lower percentage of private patients. From those catchment areas, one would expect the figures to be the reverse. The Tánaiste should remember, however, that hospital catchment areas are not necessarily geographic — they depend on the skills and disciplines that are being carried out in those hospitals. Tallaght is a major tertiary referral hospital for a large part of the country. I do not want to see people who are being encouraged to take out private health insurance and who, like myself, would prefer to stay in a public hospital, being put in a position where they must go to a private hospital. I am not asking for any preferential treatment in getting into a public hospital, but I just want to be allowed to stay there. Despite the fact that I have private health insurance, it seems that this entitlement is going to be removed and I feel that is a serious matter.
I went to Barcelona with Deputy Devins and Deputy Fiona O’Malley and we were impressed by the director of paediatric surgery we spoke to there concerning the way in which they organised their consultants’ work. Targets were set by agreement among the consultants. In trying to resolve the common contract, I hope the Tánaiste will try to take into account the way in which consultants work in other jurisdictions, rather than just in the United Kingdom or America. I wish her good luck with that.
Deputy O’Connor: I wish to be associated with the warm welcome that has been extended to the Tánaiste.
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