asked the Minister for Health if he will explain the basis on which payments are made to voluntary hospitals for services on behalf of health boards.
Written Answers. - Voluntary Hospitals Payments.
274.
Voluntary public and joint board hospitals provide services on an agency basis on behalf of health boards. These hospitals operate in line with budgets which are set and controlled directly by my Department.
The payments referred to by the Deputy are based on an estimate of the proportion of approved expenditure incurred by voluntary and joint board hospitals in providing hospital services to patients from each health board area. An estimate of the bed-days used in each hospital by those patients allows for apportionment of the total expenditure.