Vol. 430 No. 2
286 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that hospitals currently charge a full days maintenance in respect of each part-day on which a patient is an inpatient; and his views as to whether it is more equitable to only charge for each completed period of 24 hours.
296 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Health whether, in relation to the hospital charge of £20 per day, this charge is payable for both the day of admission and the day the patient is discharged from the hospital; and whether double charging is in fact involved if another patient is similarly charged on being admitted to a hospital bed for which a charge has been made for that day to the departing patient.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 286 and 296 together.
Under the Health (In-Patient Charges) Regulations, 1987, a person is liable for a statutory charge, unless otherwise exempt, in respect of in-patient public hospital services. These Regulations state that this daily charge, which is currently £20, applies per day or part of a day. The maximum liability which applies to each individual is £200 in any period of twelve consecutive months.
Maintenance charges for public and private accommodation apply on a per night, rather than a per day basis.
In my Press Statement of 23 February, 1993 I referred specifically to this aspect of the Regulations as being of particular concern to me and it is one of the issues being examined by the Group which I have set up in order to review the statutory charges.
