The Deputy will appreciate that responsibility for the provision of services to private patients is a matter for each individual hospital, in this case, the Rotunda Hospital. While my Department approves the designation of hospital beds as either public or private and determines the level charge to be levied for private and semi-private accommodation the standard of facilities in private and semi-private units is an issue for the hospital concerned and the private health insurer in the context of providing acceptable standards of accommodation for insured persons.
The eight major academic teaching hospitals, MATHs, including six hospitals in the eastern region have developed and are introducing an accreditation programme for hospitals. My Department fully supports this initiative and funding of £2.4 million has been made available to date for that purpose. The accreditation programme will formalise standard setting and measurement across many aspects of a hospital's operations. The focus of the standards is on the patient as he/she moves through an episode of care in the hospital. Standards have now been developed around five interrelated functional areas applicable to each participating hospital: patient service groupings; leadership and partnership; information management; environment management; human resource management.