Unions ‘will not accept privatised health service’

Healthcare unions have warned they will not sit back and allow sections of the public health service be outsourced to private companies, because of the HSE recruitment embargo.

SIPTU sectoral organiser Kevin Figgis has warned unions have “grave concerns” privatisation is sneaking into the health services.

In Cork city, a long-awaited PET/CT scanner went into operation at CUH last month, but is being run by a private company, Alliance Medical, as hospital management were unable to hire sufficient staff to run the service. The hospital’s MRI scanner is also operated by a private company.