asked the Minister for Health whether there is a set procedure whereby health boards hire private transport for outpatients attending hospitals and/or clinics; and, if so, if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Hospital Outpatients' Transport.
15.
The normal procedure is that health boards who need to hire private transport to supplement their own ambulances and minibuses enter into contracts with local hackney and taxi owners as a result of public advertisements inviting tenders.
Is such a procedure obligatory or can they opt out of this particular type of procedure? Must it be this way or can they choose their own way?
I presume the obligation on the health boards would be to ensure a proper transport service. The manner in which they would propose to supply such a service would be a matter for the CEO.
Then there is not a set procedure. If I can supply the Minister with information showing that tenders were sought and accepted and, in one particular case, due to undue outside influence being used, a man who tendered was notified he had been successful for a particular operation and thereupon purchased a new and costly machine and is now left with the machine on his hands and the tender has been passed over to some friend of the board, will the Minister investigate?
I certainly will.