Patricia Ryan
Question:700. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Health if he will nationalise private hospitals to prevent an overrun due to Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3759/21]
View answerWednesday, 27 January 2021
Questions (700)
Written answers
Following the termination of the agreement with private hospitals in June last year, the Government mandated the HSE to seek a new agreement with the private hospitals to provide the HSE with access to the private hospitals’ capacity in the event of a surge in Covid-19 cases.
The HSE has agreed a new safety net arrangement with all 18 private hospitals. They have signed Service Level Agreements to provide additional hospital capacity to the HSE, to deal with the current surge in Covid-19 cases and any further surges in the pandemic, if they arise within the next 12 months.
Under the arrangement, the hospitals have agreed to supply, depending on the incidence of the disease, up to 15% or 30% of their capacity. The HSE will be responsible for invoking the safety net arrangement. The decision will be determined on the basis of any one of three metrics which objectively indicate that a Covid-19 surge event is imminent or present. These metrics cover the level of community transmission, the number of hospital beds in the public system occupied by Covid-19 patients and the number of ICU beds in the public system occupied by Covid-19 patients. The agreement provides that the HSE shall exit the arrangement when the surge ceases. This will also be determined by metrics covering the level of community transmission, the number of hospital beds in the public system occupied by Covid-19 patients and the number of ICU beds in the public system occupied by Covid-19 patients.
The agreement also provides for additional capacity over the 30% to be made available by mutual agreement between the HSE and any of the hospitals.
The additional capacity provided by the private hospitals is critical to enabling the public health system cope with large scale surges in the incidences of the disease. It is intended to use the capacity of the private hospitals for urgent, time-dependant and complex care.