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Hospital Facilities

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 February 2022

Tuesday, 8 February 2022

Questions (609, 610, 611)

Catherine Connolly

Question:

609. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Health his plans to publish the Safety Net 4 agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5852/22]

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Catherine Connolly

Question:

610. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Health his plans to publish the Safety Net 2 agreement; the total cost to date of the Safety Net 2 agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5853/22]

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Catherine Connolly

Question:

611. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Health his plans to publish the Safety Net 3 agreement; the cost to date of the Safety Net 3 agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5854/22]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 609, 610 and 611 together.

In January 2021 all 18 private hospitals signed a Safety Net 2 agreement to provide additional hospital capacity to the HSE to deal with the surge in Covid-19. The agreement is a standard agreement, signed individually between the HSE and the relevant private hospital/private hospital group. Details of the agreements cannot be released as they are commercial sensitive.

Under the agreement the HSE can obtain up to 15% or 30% of the private hospitals’ capacity, depending on certain metrics regarding the level of community transmission of the disease, or numbers hospitalised or in ICUs occurring. The agreement remained in place until between the middle or end of January 2022, depending on the hospital concerned. The arrangement provides that where the HSE invokes the agreement but does not use the full capacity sought it makes a payment for the unused capacity.

The HSE also made use of private hospital capacity, through a Safety Net 3 arrangement it made with the private hospitals, to help it deal with the cyber-attack which occurred in May 2021.

The HSE has further advised that the cyber attack in May 2020 made it impossible to assign unique identifiers which would allow it to track the SN 2 and 3 patients. The latest figures received from the HSE show total payments under SN2 and 3 of €116.57m.

The HSE and the private hospitals have agreed an amended and extended Safety Net agreement, Safety Net 4, building on the lessons learnt from the operation of Safety Net agreements 2 and 3. The agreement will be submitted to Government shortly for its approval and if Government agrees to it, the details will be made available then.

Question No. 610 answered with Question No. 609.
Question No. 611 answered with Question No. 609.
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