Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 July 2020
242. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health if an independent assessment has been carried out of the separation of private practice from the public hospital system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17836/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraArising from the recommendation by the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare that private activity be progressively removed from public hospitals and that an independent impact analysis of the separation be conducted, an Independent Review Group (IRG) was established to examine the removal of private practice from public acute hospitals.
The Independent Review Group, which was chaired by Dr Donal de Buitléir, made eight recommendations which it considers would be necessary to remove private activity from public hospitals. Five recommendations concern the consultant contract. A sixth recommends legislation to ensure that public hospitals are exclusively used for the treatment of public patients from the conclusion of the ten-year Sláintecare implementation period. Two further recommendations relate to better data collection and HIQA’s role in private hospitals.
The Report was published in August 2019 and in December Government announced the introduction of a Sláintecare consultant contract, based on key recommendations contained in the IRG Report. A link to the published report is enclosed for reference https://assets.gov.ie/26529/aed7ee0317ff49a7a609974772cf2191.pdf
The current Programme for Government, Our Shared Future, contains specific commitments in relation to finalising the new Sláintecare consultant contract and legislating for public-only work in public hospitals, which are fundamental aspects necessary to support progression towards the goal of a single-tier public hospital system.
