Bid to free up hospital beds attracts just two proposals

A GOVERNMENT initiative to free up beds in public hospitals by transferring paying patients to private hospitals located on the same campus has attracted just two proposals despite the lure of tax breaks.

However, neither meets the criteria applied by the Health Service Executive (HSE) in assessing proposals, set out in the Government’s policy document to encourage private investment.

Yesterday, the head of the National Hospital’s Office (NHO) Pat McLoughlin said there was “no business plan on my desk that I’d be happy with in the context of Government policy”.