Vol. 517 No. 4
114 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Health and Children the total number of private beds in public hospitals; the average cost, in terms of State subvention, of each of these beds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9909/00]
There are 2,528 designated private acute beds in public acute hospitals at present. The level of charges in respect of these beds is set by the Minister for Health and Children. Under present arrangements, these charges vary only in relation to category of the hospital and whether private or semi-private accommodation is used while day care charges are set as a percentage of the overnight charge applicable to the particular hospital. The current charges are set out in the following table.
The charges are not explicitly related to the real costs of maintaining and providing services to private patients and are intended only as a contribution to the cost of care in public hospitals. The different rates applied to different categories of hospitals are primarily intended to reflect the fact that there are varying levels of costs between major tertiary and teaching hospitals and general hospitals. The current level of charges does not cover the full cost of private care in public hospitals. The White Paper on private health insurance estimated the annual cost of the public subsidy involved at £35 million.
Private hospitals have their own budget arrangements with insurers, which are more closely related to actual costs than the centrally determined charge currently applied in the public hospitals. The White Paper states that it would be appropriate to implement a charging system which recognises the real costs in the public hospitals and, to this end, the Government is committed to make arrangements for the phased introduction of economic pricing over a period of five to seven years. My Department has established a group which will consult with agencies and insurers on the best approach to adopt in this regard. The main beneficiaries from the introduction of more realistic costing will be the major teaching and regional hospitals where the gap between current charges and non-capital costs is most apparent.
Charges in Public Hospitals
Revised Charges Per Day As From 1 January 2000
|
Hospital Category |
PrivateAccommo-dation |
Semi-PrivateAccommo-dation |
Day-care |
|
Health Board Regional HospitalsVoluntary and Joint Board Teaching Hospitals |
£183 |
£143 |
£131 |
|
Health Board County HospitalsVoluntary Non-Teaching Hospitals |
£151 |
£122 |
£109 |
|
Health Board District Hospitals |
£94 |
£81 |
£70 |
